Global M & A activity may have seemed to quieten in recent years, but a new megaboom is already underway - exemplified by Facebook's pursuit of Instagram in early 2012 for US1bn in cash and stock. But in an age where two-thirds of all merger deals can be said to fail (where deals fall short of the minimum required financial returns to the acquiring company), how can future success be guaranteed? And what can acquirers, and their shareholders and advisers, do to improve the chances of success?