Bachelor Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 1.3, European Business School - International University Schlo? Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, 114 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: A wrap-up of 2007 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity discovers that the M&A volume reached new records throughout the year but rapidly declined after the subprime-lending crisis made credit markets tighter. During the next years, Investment Banks expect less mega-deals with the participation of financial sponsors. The share of financial investors in the total M&A volume has sunk from 36% in May to 14% in October 2007 (K?hler, 2007). The same holds true for private equity companies that are struggling to raise new debt capital for their investments ("Vergleich mit J.C. Flowers," 2008). Nevertheless, suggestions that the M&A boom has reached its climax and is about to come down may be premature. Especially for Germany, financial analysts expect a special economic cycle, as the M&A activity of public banks is expected to remain on the move. In general, the future trend is ambiguous; on the one hand, the credit crunch that already affected vast parts of global markets could also damage M&A activity. On the other hand, due to this crisis, new opportunities for large mergers and acquisitions may arise. According to Thomson Financial, the M&A volume for 2007 amounted to €3.0 bn due to record investmen...