medium · Investment Banking

What is the impact of an 'Asset Step-Up' in an M&A transaction?

  1. It is a firm legal requirement under U.S. GAAP rules that entirely prevents any Goodwill from ever being created in an acquisition.
  2. It permits the acquirer to immediately deduct the full purchase price paid in the deal as a tax expense in the year the transaction closes.
  3. It increases the book value of acquired assets to their fair market value, leading to higher future D&A and potentially lower GAAP Net Income.
  4. It is an informal process in which the acquirer boosts its own publicly traded stock price by revising upward its forward earnings projections and guidance.

Sign up free to see the explanation and track your rank →

More Investment Banking practice

KomFi Academy — Stop doomscrolling. Get KomFi.

Turn wasted screen time into verifiable competence.

KomFi Academy is a curated training platform with 66,000+ practice questions, 25,000+ flashcards, on-demand video lectures, podcasts, and 4K slide decks across the topics serious professionals study: GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, SAT, Investment Banking, Private Equity (LBOs & PE math), Private Credit, Quantitative Finance, Financial Accounting, Asset- Backed Securities, Volume Profile Analysis, Order Flow Trading, Market Microstructure, Volume Spread Analysis, Elliott Wave Theory, Volume-Price Analysis, and Public Offering Frameworks.

What's inside

Topics

View pricing · Read testimonials