December 22, 2008, Bank of America (BofA) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis convened a special board meeting to consider the acquisition of his company to the investment bank Merrill Lynch. Negotiations to acquire began several months ago, during the disastrous week in September, in which Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Initially both Merrill and BofA considered their agreement is positive, but in the past months, as Merrill's expected losses have grown, and the government stepped in with programs such as TARP, BofA was tied to the financial anchor of the hard-line government, BofA prevent failure of the ship. This case provides background information on the financial crisis and the chain of events in the period from September to December 2008, in which Merrill, BofA, and the government tried to negotiate the acquisition. This case focuses on a class discussion a few solutions, whether BofA had originally agreed to buy Merrill Lynch, whether he should accept capital contributions from the Treasury, and how it should react to the deterioration in the position of Merrill Lynch in the first quarter. "Hide
by Robert C. Pozen, Charles Beresford Source: Harvard Business School 23 pages. Publication Date: May 26, 2010. Prod. #: 310092-PDF-ENG
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