M&A Blog and News

October 9, 2023

What You Need to Know About the "Home Base" for All Your Integration Activities
M&A Leadership Council

Establishing an IMO plan for the purposes of managing integration is highly recommended, as it provides a “home base” for all integration activities and can be set up as a unique cost center to capture integration related expenses.  

October 3, 2023

The Art of M&A® / Integration: Closing
An excerpt from The Art of M&A, Fifth Edition: A Merger, Acquisition, and Buyout Guide by Alexandra Reed Lajoux

CLOSING - What happens on the closing day itself? Assuming the parties have conducted a preclosing drill, three things will typically happen:  1. Document preparation: The parties and their counsel will review any new or newly revised documents ....

September 6, 2023

SaaS Executives Share 5 Lessons
By John Christman, Former Corporate Development Global Head of M&A Integration, Cognizant Technology Solutions

Digital transformation is increasingly driving the acquisition of new, different and non-traditional businesses that require a substantially different approach to integration. And even though these acquisitions .....

September 5, 2023

Don't Step on Cultural Land Mines in M&A
by Mark Herndon, Chairman Emeritus, M&A Leadership Council

In spite of all the ink, sweat and tears that have been devoted over the last twenty years to the topic of managing culture during M&As, the unfortunate reality is that most acquirers still aren’t very good at it. .....

August 28, 2023

Hammering the "So What" About the Most Important Areas
by Jack Prouty, Past President, M&A Leadership Council

A young couple had a problem with their kitchen sink and called in a plumber to fix it. He presented them with a bill for $100, and the husband asked for a price breakdown. The plumber wrote, “$10 for hammering, $90 for ....

August 24, 2023

The Art of M&A® / Due Diligence: Detecting Cybersecurity Risk
An excerpt from The Art of M&A, Fifth Edition: A Merger, Acquisition, and Buyout Guide by Alexandra Reed Lajoux

Cybersecurity audits should be a very comprehensive review of the existing digital environment of the target company that includes a wide variety of different platforms and tools.1  IT infrastructure, including firewalls, firewall rules, intrusion detection..... 

August 21, 2023

5 Capabilities and Custom Design Requirements
by Mark Herndon, Chairman Emeritus, M&A Leadership Council, with contributions by Mark Juergens

A close friend, client and colleague – one who is deeply experienced in both M&A and divestitures – often coaches his team to remember “divestitures are not acquisitions spelled backwards.” We wholeheartedly agree, and if ....

August 15, 2023

The Art of M&A® / Due Diligence: How Extensive Should Due Diligence Be?
An excerpt from The Art of M&A Due Diligence, Second Edition: Navigating Critical Steps and Uncovering Crucial Data by Alexandra Reed Lajoux and Charles M. Elson

How far a buyer wishes to go in the due diligence process depends in part on how much time the buyer has and how much money it has to investigate the company it wishes to buy. This will depend to some extent on the status .....