This coursebook teaches basic corporate acquisition planning. In addition to state corporate law and federal securities law, the book covers tax, accounting, environmental, products liability, pension, antitrust, national security, bankruptcy, and labor law issues. It integrates traditionally distinct classroom subjects in the context of discrete transactions.

Each topical unit contains statutes, regulations, and case law that affect the structure and timing of acquisitions and reorganizations. The book includes questions and problems to aid students in walking through the law's basic distinctions. Textual notes and edited articles identify and question the empirical and political assumptions implicit in the standards. The new edition updates all areas and features private equity buyouts.