Foreword Problems of buyouts on the one side and M&A on the other side have been often treated by the literature from theoretical and empirical view. But there is comparatively little knowledge concerning a new practice where investors combine buyouts with M&A via a so-called buy-and-build strategy. In Germany such strategies have been pursued from about 1998, since then the growth of private equity has pushed the interest in these strategies. The author's professional experience and the access to special data resources have made possible investigating the phenomenon of buy-and-build...