Now in its fifth edition across four decades, Lajoux’s guide is the encyclopedia: financing structures, diligence scope, purchase agreements, regulatory clearances, closing mechanics and integration, each treated in practical question-and-answer form with the law and tax context flagged. Nobody reads it cover to cover; everybody who transacts keeps reaching for it.
The Institute’s reading: for an owner, its value is as a translation device. When counsel proposes a basket and cap, or a lender talks about a working-capital peg, the relevant ten pages here will make the next meeting a conversation between adults. Use it to understand your advisers, not to replace them; the book itself is emphatic that the specifics are jurisdiction- and fact-dependent.