About us
More than a decade of global activity and excellence in M&A Education & Research
The Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances (IMAA) is a not-for-profit think tank for Mergers & Acquisitions which pursues research and provides educational certificate programs, workshops, resources, and expert knowledge in the field of M&A. Founded in 2004, the Institute consists of respected faculty and trainers from around the world who contribute to the research, resource content, and programs. As the leading academic institution for M&A and a globally active institute, our programs offer a wealth of experience and know-how and are the most substantial and complete educational offering in existence. Our M&A certificate programs are the only internationally broadly recognized education programs and its content is relevant to both developed countries and emerging markets. IMAA participants and institute members represent over 70 countries, including students and junior professionals to board level executives and government officials. We are committed to providing excellence in M&A education and research, and are dedicated to making mergers, acquisitions and alliances beneficial for businesses and our participants succeed with their projects and careers.
Key Facts
- Established in 2004
- International Presence
- Unique Combination of Academics and Practitioners
- Global Faculty and Experts from the Field
- Know-how in Developed and Emerging Markets
- Leading Academic Institution for M&A
Our Vision
We contribute to making Mergers & Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances a success.
Our Mission
The Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances (IMAA) provides and advances knowledge and insights to improve the use and benefits of mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and strategic alliances. Our mission is to:
- Research
- design, conduct, and disseminate high-quality, avant-garde, and innovative basic and applied research
- Education
- create, provide and offer educational opportunities for professionals, students and the interested public
- Resources
- collect, maintain and provide specialized resources and information
- Collaboration
- collaborate with academic, government and industry partners
- International Forum
- provide an international forum devoted to the dialogue of business, politics, society, and science
- Integrator
- act as an integrator of different stakeholders in the business community and interdisciplinary science
M&A TRAININGS FOR ALL LEVELS
Our Institute offer trainings and M&A courses for all career levels:
Executives
Many owners, c-level executives and other leaders in their organization attend our M&A trainings, certification programs, and coachings to prepare for transactions, initial public offerings, and for many more reasons.
Professionals
Many of our M&A certificate programs are taken by young and experienced professionals from junior to partner level from advisory, chartered accountants, consulting, investment banking, legal advice, tax accountants, but also from staff from corporate development, M&A, finance functions, etc.
Students
Our faculty members teach in various institutions worldwide and provide their insights and expertise in M&A courses, entrepreneurial finance, etc. for students at undergraduate and graduate levels. We also collaborate with many professors and share materials, information and best-practice.
ACCREDITATION AND RECOGNITION

We provide premier quality continuing education for professionals and organizations across the globe. We have been granted the ISO certification by TUEV Austria for ISO Norm 9001 Quality Management Systems, ISO Norm 21001 Educational organizations, and ISO Norm 29990 Learning services for non-formal education and training (please see Certificate).
In addition to our own accreditations and recognition, our faculty teaches, our content is used at and we cooperate with many top ranking business schools that are triple accredited with the highest standards in the educational sector: AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. But as we do not provide academic degree programs, these accrediting institutions are not applicable for our Institute. Still we have joined the AACSB as a business education alliance member to promote the cooperation between business schools and businesses.
The Institute and our faculty members are mentioned in over 300 appearances in the media (TV, radio and newspapers) such as Bloomberg, CNN, Dow Jones News, Financial Times, The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, and The Wall Street Journal.
Governments and non-governmental organizations seek our advice and information, like the Bank of England, the Dubai Economic Council, the Government of Canada, Enterprise Singapore, the parliament of Germany, various embassies around the world, and ministries in the United States as well as the US Chambers of Commerce for example, turn to us for insights and rely on our support.
We provide you with a substantial collection of testimonials and a selected reference list of companies, please refer to our testimonials page.
We and our programs are also recognized or accepted by other high quality institutions as a continued education provider for continuing professional development (CPD) and continuing professional education (CPE). Please find more information in the selection below:
Cooperations
- companies as corporate partners,
- governments,
- international organizations,
- universities and training providers.
Below we list a selection of organizations that we collaborate with or contributed to with our know how and expertise. We maintain good formal and informal relationships with many other organizations.

We are a business education alliance member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) – a global business education network and association. Many of our academic faculty members teach at AACSB accredited top business schools.

We cooperate with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and offer their certified accountants opportunities for continued education.

We are a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) headquartered in Chicago and are part of their chapter in Austria. ACG is a global community for middle-market M&A deal-makers and business leaders. Our trainings are endorsed by some ACG chapters.

We cooperate with PwC Academy in Sri Lanka and with PwC in many other locations, for example in our IM&A program in Dubai.

BIZIT Inc. was established in August 2019 by spinning out from Tryfunds Inc. It operates the largest global M&A platform in Japan "BIZIT M&A", which is used by approximately 5,200 users in 158 countries around the world and supports the overseas expansion and M&A of Japanese SMEs.”

Some of our trainings are endorsed by and of interest to members of the German Federal Association of Private Equity Companies.

We are a member of the German Federal Association for Mergers & Acquisitions and involve some of their board members and corporate members as faculty.

Frequently our trainings get endorsed by various CFA Societies in different countries and are attended by CFA Charterholders for continued education.

We collaborate with and support the Controller Institut with their M&A training in German (“M&A Lehrgang“) in Vienna.

We are a member and collaborate with the Association for Post Merger Integration (“Gesellschaft für Post Merger Integration e.V.”) headquartered in Germany. Some of their members are also faculty members at IMAA.

We are a member of the International Council For Open And Distance Education and share their mission to promote greater quality educational opportunity.

We cooperate with PwC Academy in Sri Lanka and with PwC in many other locations, for example in our IM&A program in Dubai.

We collaborate with and support the Munich Business School in cooperation with the Controller Institut with their M&A training in German (“M&A Lehrgang“) in Munich.

We are a member of the Swiss Federation for Adult Learning (SVEB). Their mission is to ensure high quality in continued education. By providing M&A trainings with the highest standards, we believe to make a useful contribution for the advancement of this field.

The Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCA) cooperates with the Institute in our M&A trainings as we also support their events and network.