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From the deal professionals

The Book of Jargon: Global Mergers & Acquisitions

Latham & Watkins · Maintained online · Latham & Watkins (free interactive glossary)

Strategy & readinessStructure & financingValuation & diligenceEvery first-time principal, before the first advisers meeting
Why it is on the shelf. Latham & Watkins’ free interactive glossary of M&A and private equity terminology, acronyms and slang, across U.S. and international practice; the cheapest confidence a first-time buyer or seller can acquire.

The Institute's reading

The Book of Jargon does one thing completely: it defines the working vocabulary of dealmaking, from LOI and QoE through baskets, caps, collars and working-capital pegs, in plain entries written by practitioners, covering corporate and sponsor terminology across a dozen jurisdictions. It is a glossary, and it does not pretend to be more.

The Institute’s reading: language asymmetry is negotiating asymmetry. An owner who has to guess what a term means concedes ground invisibly, and the professionals across the table have no incentive to slow down. This Institute’s standing advice is to never let vocabulary decide a deal point, and this free resource is the fastest cure. Read entries the night before meetings the way Lajoux’s reference is read the night before deal phases.

Key propositions

  • Deal language is learnable in hours, and not knowing it is quietly expensive.
  • A shared vocabulary converts adviser meetings from lectures into conversations.

In practice

  • Send it to your CFO and any family member in the deal; a common glossary prevents internal confusion too.
Acquisition Conciergeorientation · not legal, tax or valuation advice
Happy to dig into it. What would you like to pressure-test from The Book of Jargon: Global Mergers & Acquisitions: one of its propositions, how it applies to your situation, or where it disagrees with the rest of the shelf?