This course is fully booked and closed for further applications.
The first part of the course is planned to get the students into Mergers and Acquisitions framework by presenting the patterns of M&A activity and discussing the reasoning of acquisition choice. The teacher addresses the key factors of M&A success and failure, stimulating class discussion by proposing crucial questions like: “Why do M&A that looked great on paper fail in reality? Which are the main aspects that should be taken into account in the acquisition strategy? What does it take to make the synergies come to life?”. Hence, managerial aspects and strategic decisions are discussed. The course offers also a detailed overview of elements of value creation and synergies, embracing fundamentals of resource sharing, knowledge transfer, and integration.
The second part of the course digs deeply into the acquisition process, addressing one by one the main phases of a deal. As such, the students are guided throughout the selection and evaluation of the target, due diligence, negotiation, valuation, decision about the methods of payment and financing, integration, and closure of the deal. Finally, the course embraces aspects of sociocultural integration and culture clash issues in the context of national and international organizations.
Exam info and full course description can be found in the course catalogue.
Course specific:
To apply for the course you must either be enrolled in a bachelor's degree, have a bachelor's degree or have passed a qualifying entry examination.
Furthermore, it is recommended that the student is familiar with industrial organisation.
General:
Exchange Students: nomination from your home university
Freemovers: documentation for English Language proficiency
You can read more about the admission here.
Damiana is currently leading Corporate Development at Akronos Technologies Group, an international engineering consulting group headquartered in Italy. In her role, Damiana oversees Corporate & M&A strategy, M&A transactions, and the Group’s international expansion. In parallel, she has direct responsibility of Group’s activities, clients, and teams in Greece, through the local entity Akronos Technologies Hellas SA.
On the academic side, she offers this M&A course at Aarhus Summer University as Visiting Professor since 2019. Previously, she has been Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics and Business Economics of Aarhus University, doing research and lecturing in the field of M&A, strategic and innovation management, international business, and corporate finance at both B.Sc. and M.Sc. levels. She collaborates with Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) as an external censor for MSc/BSc theses, final projects, and Executive programs. Additionally, she delivers executive education seminars to senior leaders in international companies, offering strategic insights into the M&A process. Her academic studies and papers are published in highly ranked international journals, such as Journal of Management Studies.
