Why you should steer clear of M&A

Mergers and acquistions (M&A) are back with a vengeance. It's exciting stuff, but investors should steer clear. Tim Bennett explains why.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)are back. So much so that, as Reuters notes, the global total deal value for August of $200bn is only $77bn short of the record set in 1999. A string of deals has hit the market, featuring headline-grabbing names such as BHP, Hewlett Packard, and HSBC. This all sounds pretty exciting "predators" stalk "targets", while "white knights" and "poison pills" are deployed but that may not be of any real use to investors.

What is M&A?

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.