Corporate: Useful Reading? Forum

[law1245]

I have zero corporate experience and am starting SA this summer in V100's corporate groups. Are there any good books to provide useful background/info on M&A, cap markets, etc?

This is not an attempt to gun, just to provide some peace of mind before starting SA.

[thesealocust]

Read Barbarians at the Gates & A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Then glance at (if not read in depth) the Wall Street Journal somewhat regularly. That should start giving you exposure. Other things (the Economist, blogs like dealbreaker, books/movies like Too Big To Fail, etc.) are also good but not as general.

[arizonairish]

I would read "The Intelligent Investor." Really useful for understanding the difference between debt/equity etc.

[911 crisis actor]

To help maintain perspective, also read Liar's Poker + The Big Short (both by Michael Lewis)

[911 crisis actor]

Also When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management (Roger Lowenstein)

[JusticeHarlan]

Tombstones, by that former WLRK partner, was alright.

[Old Gregg]

Gods at War by S. Davidoff (he also writes for DealBook as the... Deal Professor).

[$$$$$$]

By far the best books for someone in your shoes are the following:

(1) You can be a stock market genius - This is the nuts and bolts of special situations investing, but it encompasses the entire realm of law-based securities issues from restructurings, distressed debt, special dividends, etc and is very heavy on understanding filings and other public information that is not heavily read or disseminated.

(2) Barbarians at the Gate - great book for M&A, takes your through the RJR + Nabisco merger and involves several huge PE and legal players in it.

(3) Too Big To Fail - amazing book about the financial crisis - must read for anyone going into corporate law in this day in age.

(4) Start reading Dealbook, WSJ, Financial blogs like Ritholtz.com, abnormal returns, quartz,and magazines like the economist - you obviously cannot learn everything, but but if you read those three books and get in the habit of reading about the markets everyday, you will likely be way ahead of the curve in terms of finance knowledge.

After these three, there is a big drop off for someone going to a law firm. Someone above said to read "The Intelligent Investor" but I honestly would not recommend this because it is highly technical and a hard read to get through. And if you want to understand the difference between equity and debt, you can figure it out in 10 minutes on investopedia. It is probably the greatest book ever written on value investing for a huge number of financial products though, so you should definitely read it (multiple times) at some point just for yourself.

If you want actual books on investing and understanding the way the capital markets are played by traders, HF managers, etc, then PM me because there are a number of great books for understanding that entire industry and the way people make shit loads of money in it.

[jbiresq]

Taxes & Business Strategy - http://amzn.com/0136033156

Not an obvious choice because it's really technical and confusing (and expensive,) but you can get away with just reading the M&A stuff. Nonetheless, I have actually impressed partners by mentioning the concepts they discuss.

[andriy]

Thanks. These are good for capital markets/securities practice too I guess?

By far the best books for someone in your shoes are the following:

(1) You can be a stock market genius - This is the nuts and bolts of special situations investing, but it encompasses the entire realm of law-based securities issues from restructurings, distressed debt, special dividends, etc and is very heavy on understanding filings and other public information that is not heavily read or disseminated.

(2) Barbarians at the Gate - great book for M&A, takes your through the RJR + Nabisco merger and involves several huge PE and legal players in it.

(3) Too Big To Fail - amazing book about the financial crisis - must read for anyone going into corporate law in this day in age.

(4) Start reading Dealbook, WSJ, Financial blogs like Ritholtz.com, abnormal returns, quartz,and magazines like the economist - you obviously cannot learn everything, but but if you read those three books and get in the habit of reading about the markets everyday, you will likely be way ahead of the curve in terms of finance knowledge.

After these three, there is a big drop off for someone going to a law firm. Someone above said to read "The Intelligent Investor" but I honestly would not recommend this because it is highly technical and a hard read to get through. And if you want to understand the difference between equity and debt, you can figure it out in 10 minutes on investopedia. It is probably the greatest book ever written on value investing for a huge number of financial products though, so you should definitely read it (multiple times) at some point just for yourself.

If you want actual books on investing and understanding the way the capital markets are played by traders, HF managers, etc, then PM me because there are a number of great books for understanding that entire industry and the way people make shit loads of money in it.

[emciosn]

Great thread--I have been looking for reading suggestions along these lines. Any suggestions for someone going into corporate restructuring in particular? Also anthing on distressed asset/debt investing? I think alot of the books mentioned above probably cover this material but I am just wondering if anyone has any other books that may cover that subject area specifically.

Also--I would second "Too Big to Fail." It was really a fantastic read and will help you to speak intelligently on the financial crisis cause/effects if you ever get into that conversation.