What makes M&A practice such a rich experience is that almost every deal is distinct in its facts, the business issues at stake, the economic trends in play, and the personalities and negotiating tactics involved.  Given the number of variables, a deal can take on many different forms.  In turn, different forms will invariably produce different results.  Structuring to solve business issues--and solving business issues created by the structure--is what M&A is all about. Make the Deal examines the various agreements that practitioners have to negotiate before actually sitting down to talk about the acquisition agreement. It analyzes the overall framework of an acquisition agreement.  Different deal structures are examined--from stock sales, to mergers, asset sales, and complex structures--and how to choose between them in practice. Each chapter explains how a component is negotiated in real life, with the purpose of creating value for, and balancing risks between, the parties. The chapters include war stories from dealing with a topic in the real world to demonstrate potential pitfalls, statistics on how deal terms are negotiated in practice and sample provisions from actual contracts.