BUSI4H315 Mergers and Acquisitions (MSc Management)

SUMMATIVE ASSIGNMENT
Please answer all questions in both Sections A and B
Section A
Analyse three Mergers:
Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, Microsoft and Nokia, Google and Nest Labs
Discussion Questions. All questions carry equal marks:
1) Recently Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot agreed to merge for nearly $50 billion. Analyse the
possible ways of financing such a big deal, compare and speculate on the best possible
option. Do you think the deal will be successful? Why / Why not?
2) Nokia, a Finnish-based award-winning smartphone company, was acquired by
Microsoft in 2013 for US$7.2 billion. A few months later, in 2014 Google acquired Nest
Labs for about $3.3 bn. In the context of M&A, synergy represents the incremental cash
flows generated by combining two businesses. Identify the potential synergies you
believe could be realized in Google’s acquisition of Nest and in Microsoft’s acquisition of
Nokia. Speculate as to whether these acquisitions were successful or not. Please use the
relevant literature discussed in the course when applicable to strengthen your
arguments. Explain the rationale for your answer.
[50 marks]
BUSI4H315 Mergers and Acquisitions (MSc
Management) 2019/2020 Masters Programmes
2019/2020 Masters
Programmes
© 2020 Page 2
Durham University Business School
Section B
Kraft-Heinz vs Unilever Takeover Battle
On the 16th of February 2017, US food company Kraft-Heinz backed by three Brazilian
billionaires and US investor Warren Buffet, made an offer of $143bn to takeover Unilever
in what could be the second largest merger in corporate history, after the $183bn
takeover of Mannesmann by Vodafone in 2000. Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch company, is one
of the largest firms listed in Britain and owns well-known brands including Persil, Dove
soap, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Pot Noodle, and Marmite. The offer was $50 a share cash
and stock offer, and represented -at that time- an 18% premium to the closing price.
However, Unilever rejected the offer. Unilever has a stable of well-known brands but sales
have suffered in some big emerging markets.
Discussion Questions. All questions carry equal marks:
1. Suppose that you are the Chief Executive Officer in Kraft-Heinz in February 2017,
critically provide a convincing analysis to your shareholders to explain the
motivation, and the synergies (i.e. strategic and financial reasons) behind the offer
made to acquire Unilever. To strengthen your arguments use the financial statements
of the previous years (till 12/2016) and the relevant literature discussed in the class.
2. In your opinion, why Kraft-Heinz offered a mix of cash and stocks to acquire Unilever,
and not only cash or only stocks? Do you think Kraft-Heinz should make a higher
offer? Why/Why not? Use the relevant literature discussed in the course to strengthen
your arguments.
[50 marks]
Overall word limit, 2,500 words maximum.
The word count should:
BUSI4H315 Mergers and Acquisitions (MSc
Management) 2019/2020 Masters Programmes
2019/2020 Masters
Programmes
© 2020 Page 3
Durham University Business School
 Include all the text, including title, preface, introduction, in-text citations, quotations,
footnotes and any other item not specifically excluded below.
 Exclude diagrams, tables (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations,
executive summary/abstract, acknowledgements, declaration, bibliography/list of
references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or tables
merely as a way of circumventing the word limit. If a student uses a table or figure as
a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word count.
Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point
will not be assessed. Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted work, including
any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be clearly over-length.
Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word count provided via an
electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally misrepresented their word count, the
School may treat this as an offence under Section IV of the General Regulations of the
University. Extreme cases may be viewed as dishonest practice under Section IV, 5 (a) (x) of
the General Regulations.
Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which does not
properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide
for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in the assessment –
examiners are under no obligation to read appendices and they do not form part of the word
count. Material that students wish to be assessed should always be included in the main body
of the text.
YOUR COMPLETED ASSIGNMENT MUST BE SUBMITTED TO DUO NO LATER THAN
11.59AM ON 7 MAY 2020
MARKING GUIDELINES
BUSI4H315 Mergers and Acquisitions (MSc
Management) 2019/2020 Masters Programmes
2019/2020 Masters
Programmes
© 2020 Page 4
Durham University Business School
Performance in the summative assessment for this module is judged against the following
criteria:
 Relevance to question
 Organisation, structure and presentation
 Depth of understanding
 Analysis and discussion
 Use of sources and referencing
 Overall conclusions
Students should use the template on DUO for their assignments.
The word count should include all the text (plus endnotes and footnotes), but exclude
diagrams, tables, bibliography, references and appendices. Guidance on referencing can be
found in your Assessment handbook under ‘Things you Need to Know’ on DUO.
The assignment which you submit on-line should INCLUDE all appendices and extracts from
the companies’ financial statements.
PLAGIARISM and COLLUSION
Students suspected of plagiarism, either of published work or work from unpublished sources,
including the work of other students, or of collusion will be dealt with according to Business
School and University guidelines.
Your assignment will be put through the plagiarism detection service.

 
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order now and Get 10% Discount! Use Coupon Code "Newclient"

BU1006: The Business Environment

Essay Question
“How the state runs business in China. Much of modern China’s epic growth was
driven by private enterprise – but under Xi Jinping, the Communist party has
returned to being the ultimate authority in business as well as politics.” McGregor, R.
(25 th July 2018) The Guardian Long Read.
Your task is to:
 Explain the importance of different political environments in which
businesses operate. Critically analyse these differences, citing
examples of how they might influence business in either positive or
negative ways.
Writing the Essay:
To help you in the task, you are advised to adopt the following guidelines:
Step One = The Information required
 Since you are required to write a continuous 2,000 word
continuous essay using Harvard referencing using a range of
tools of analysis, your first task will be to understand what the
question is asking you to do.
 Once you are satisfied that you understand the question,
formulate an essay plan. You need an introduction, which sets
out your terms of reference. You need to define technical
terms. You need to consider the order in which you are going to
present your discussion. This is an important aspect of essay
writing, as you need to be able to link paragraphs without the
use of bullet points or sub-headers. You will need to provide a
conclusion, which acts as a brief summary of your findings.

 
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order now and Get 10% Discount! Use Coupon Code "Newclient"

BU1006: The Business Environment

Essay One:
“To ensure a green future the UK cannot rely on free markets alone. The scale of the
climate emergency requires nothing less than full government engagement.”
Partington, R. (7 th July 2019)
Your task is to:
 Explain how the market mechanism operates with regard to the
allocation of resources, and critically analyse the importance of
government engagement concerning climate change.
Essay should have an approximately 2,000 words (+/-10%). The essay should be
written using Harvard Referencing to support your discussion and ideas. You should
use data, graphs and diagrams where appropriate in order to achieve Learning
Outcome 3: Application of analysis tools.

 
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order now and Get 10% Discount! Use Coupon Code "Newclient"

BU1006: The Business Environment

Coursework Assessment
Submission Date: No later than 12 o’clock (Midday) on 10 th January 2020.
Submit via Turnitin complete with cover sheet containing completed self-assessment
form. Include Action Plan from original feedback where appropriate.
Students are required to answer one of the following questions in the form of a
continuous essay of approximately 2,000 words (+/-10%). The essay should be
written using Harvard Referencing to support your discussion and ideas. You should
use data, graphs and diagrams where appropriate in order to achieve Learning
Outcome 3: Application of analysis tools.
Essay One:
“To ensure a green future the UK cannot rely on free markets alone. The scale of the
climate emergency requires nothing less than full government engagement.”
Partington, R. (7 th July 2019)
Your task is to:
 Explain how the market mechanism operates with regard to the
allocation of resources, and critically analyse the importance of
government engagement concerning climate change.
OR
Essay Two:
“How the state runs business in China. Much of modern China’s epic growth was
driven by private enterprise – but under Xi Jinping, the Communist party has
returned to being the ultimate authority in business as well as politics.” McGregor, R.
(25 th July 2018) The Guardian Long Read.
Your task is to:
 Explain the importance of different political environments in which
businesses operate. Critically analyse these differences, citing
examples of how they might influence business in either positive or
negative ways.
Writing the Essay:
To help you in the task, you are advised to adopt the following guidelines:
Step One = The Information required
 Since you are required to write a continuous 2,000 word
continuous essay using Harvard referencing using a range of
tools of analysis, your first task will be to understand what the
question is asking you to do.
 Once you are satisfied that you understand the question,
formulate an essay plan. You need an introduction, which sets
out your terms of reference. You need to define technical
terms. You need to consider the order in which you are going to
present your discussion. This is an important aspect of essay
writing, as you need to be able to link paragraphs without the
use of bullet points or sub-headers. You will need to provide a
conclusion, which acts as a brief summary of your findings.
Step Two = Collecting, Managing and Using References and Data
 Having established what you are going to do to answer the question, you now
need to collect sufficient data, from text books, journal articles, the Economist
or quality press to use in the essay.
 Identify the lecture and seminar sessions, which cover the topic in the Module
Information Pack. Look at the readings listed as a starting point for your
research.
 Keep a detailed note of the sources you use to obtain your ideas and support
for your answer. Note, you should avoid cutting and pasting material. This
practice is dangerous, as it may lead to the academic offence of plagiarism.
Write the ideas down in your own words. Give a reference to recognise
where the original idea, or the support for your argument came from. E.g:
Sloman (2017) suggested that there is a relationship between free markets
and poor social cohesion. Whilst you are only paraphrasing the many lines of
text used to convey the argument in the original text, you are showing that you
have understood the idea, and have acknowledged that it originally came from
Sloman and not from you.
 Try to avoid using direct quotes. They should be used very sparingly for
emphasis only. There is very little value added in a string of quotes. If you
must use direct quotes, you must use quotation marks and provide additional
details of the page on which the quote appears.
 Try to identify relevant graphs, data or other tools of analysis to supplement
your answer. When using such diagrams, remember to use your own
numbering system. The first diagram you use will be Figure 1 – even if it is
Figure 7 in your source material!
Such a diagram should be fully labelled, titled and the source provided. This
source, along with all other references used should be included in the
bibliography at the end of the essay.
Step Three = Writing up
 Having established your essay plan, collected sufficient data and ideas with
references to support them, you can now write the essay.
 When you have finished writing the essay, read through it once again and ask
yourself:
 Does it have an introduction, which sets out the terms of reference?
 Does it address all the relevant issues?
 Are the ideas attributed to the original author using Harvard Referencing?
 Does the essay flow seamlessly from one paragraph to the next?
 Are there diagrams and/or data or other forms of analysis to support my
findings?
 Is there a conclusion, which briefly summarises your main findings?
 Have I cross- referenced all items in a bibliography, presented in alphabetical
order by author surname?
 Are full author/publisher details provided in the bibliography?
Step Four = Self-assessment
 Below is a list of the Assessment criteria. These will be applied to this essay.
 A traffic light system is used. Red suggests danger – work is needed to reach
the appropriate standard. Amber represents an acceptable level of
performance. Green represents a good level of performance.
 Rows in the first column show the assessment criteria and its weighting for
this assessment. Thus Presentation/Structure/Referencing (25%) indicates
that evidence of a well organised and presented piece of work is supported by
correct refrencing is one of the criteria and it contributes to 25% of your total
mark for this essay.
 Columns 2 to 4 are used to describe the corresponding Red, Amber and
Green outcomes. Thus column 2 suggests that Red is awarded for “wrongly
formatted /or badly structured work with insufficient levels of reference”.
Column 3 suggests that Amber is awarded for “work with a reasonable
structure, in the correct format which is generally well referenced, with some
exceptions”. Column 4 shows that Green represents a “well- structured and
organised piece of work supported fully by strong referencing.
 A similar type of interpretation applies to the other three categories:
Research/Evidence/Interpretation; Knowledge and Understanding; and
Argument/Evaluation and Application.
You should refer to the marking criteria at all stages:

 
Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order now and Get 10% Discount! Use Coupon Code "Newclient"