Peter Howson draws on thirty years of M&A and due diligence experience gained both in industry and as an adviser. His M&A experience began at the British conglomerate TI Group, where he was part of the small team which, through 75 acquisitions and disposals, transformed it from a UK focused supplier of commodity products into a global specialist engineering company. This was followed by a spell in Corporate Finance at the Investment Bank Barings, where he focused on domestic and cross-border deals in manufacturing industries. He continued his career with senior finance and M&A roles with British Steel and the automotive company T&N before spending 15 years as a London based commercial due diligence specialist advising corporates and private equity on potential acquisitions.

• List of illustrationsChapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: Getting startedChapter 3: Working with advisersChapter 4: Financial due diligenceChapter 5: Legal due diligenceChapter 6: Commercial due diligenceChapter 7: Human Resources due diligenceChapter 8: Management due diligenceChapter 9: Pensions due diligenceChapter 10: Tax due diligenceChapter 11: Environmental due diligenceChapter 12: IT due diligenceChapter 13: Technology due diligenceChapter 14: Intellectual property due diligenceChapter 15: Anti-trust due diligence