Justification of the topic choice. Accuracy in defining the aim and objectives of the thesis: 4  Structure and logic of the text flow: 5  Quality of analytical approach and quality of offered solution to the research objectives: 5  Quality of data gathering and description: 4  Scientific aspect of the thesis: 5  Practical/applied nature of research: 5  Quality of thesis layout: 5  Additional comments:  Master thesis of Emil Ilyasov “M&A Deals’ Characteristics and After-Merger Bidder Financial Performance: the Case of UK IT Industry” clearly addresses topicality of the study devoted to a popular corporate finance tool of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which is also shown to experience a research gap from academic point of view. The paper is logically sectioned in a straightforward and easy to understand way.  Firstly, the author introduces an overview of theoretical M&A background gathered from a wide variety of sources. Emil also makes an interesting roundup on history of M&A deal waves backed up with the dynamics of geographical distribution of transaction volumes. By analyzing the motives and the process M&A Emil shows thorough understanding of the topic. However, section 1.5 “Main triggers and trends in M&A industry” (pp. 27-30) of the paper does not provide enough details on motivation behind studying the UK market over any other. It is well mentioned that findings of a study covering the US market would be hardly applicable on developing markets, yet, it does not address the reason why would studying UK make more academic importance. Nonetheless, Emil provides an exhaustive explanation on UK’s research attractiveness from the practical point of view.  Secondly, Emil profoundly covers academic coverage of the topic to date. The author follows an easy to follow way of describing his findings: for instance, he provides brief summaries presented as tables exhibiting advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to study (see pp. 32 and 34), which simplify reader’s comprehension. The research hypotheses are fortified both with argumentation and citing methodology used in prior research of the matter.  Thirdly, Emil presents description of his research methodology and while it offers a range of models to be used (4 performance models and 1 payment method model), the thesis would benefit from having a summary for choosing specific dependent variables. While reasoning itself is provided (see p. 35), neither section related to hypotheses statement nor research methodology summarizes the chosen performance measures. Thus, it would be nice to have an overview of facts that led Emil to picking this particular set of variables over any other, especially to choosing P/E ratio over OCF or EBITDA-based multiples. Emil sourced the data from reputable sources and succeeded at presenting the sample’s descriptive statistics. This part of the research would be best with a summary of insights (starting from p. 56): for instance, why the majority of transactions are cross-border (corresponding binary variable’s mean of 72.6%), what is the distribution of countries under scope, etc. Nevertheless, the description and synopsis of the results and main findings is flawless and provides a clear background for conclusions on research hypotheses and practical recommendations.  Overall, Emil’s paper shows an exceptional quality of analytical solution to the stated research objectives with utmost level of structured text flow: the scope of research covers various approaches to measuring companies’ performance, while introducing findings in an easy to understand manner. Both scientific and practical applicability of the paper’s findings is high as Emil both covered the academic research gap (impact of particular factor relation to after-M&A financial performance) and targeted a prospective UK market (from practical point of view). The general layout is seamless while lacks few minor details like common exhibit appearance (see pp. 28 and 29) throughout the paper and consistency of formatting (see table spacing on pp. 57 and 62).  Master thesis of Emil Ilyasov meets the requirements of the Master in Corporate Finance program, and according to the reviewer’s opinion deserves an excellent (B) grade, thus the author can be given the desired degree.  Date 02 Jun 2018	  Referee:   Alexander Burov Master, Junior Research Analyst McKinsey & Company