THE MERGER-AND-ACQUISITION FRENZY THAT HAS taken place over the past decade has affected owners and managers of businesses of all types and sizes. National and local business press has been filled with news of transactions and legislation involving tender offers, mergers, reorganizations, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, spinoffs, divestitures, redemptions and share exchanges. This trend has brought us the transactions between Exxon and Mobil, AOL and Time Warner, and even Chrysler and Daimler-Benz.

Although the capital to finance the acquisition is usually not a challenge for corporate titans, as the owner or manager of a small- to medium-size company, you may be ...