Time to Move from Compliance to Risk Assessment
By Kristin Winford - Managing Director of Transformation and Growth for BDO, an M&A Leadership Council Partner

As the recent WannaCry and Petya cyber-attacks have demonstrated, cyber risk continues to pose a significant threat to organizations across the globe. Cybersecurity is a critical business function, yet, paradoxically, cyber risk is often insufficiently examined – or even overlooked – during the merger and acquisition (M&A) due diligence process. This often results in the acquiring company unwittingly assuming risk and placing assets in jeopardy.

We routinely hear horror stories about good deals being fumbled badly when handing off between due diligence and integration. Think this is a rookie mistake that your organization would never make during the big game? If so, you need some extra laps after practice.

"There is a lack of accountability for the success of the overall acquisition beyond close.”

Pardon me while I point out the elephant in the room. Providing adequate integration project staffing is a challenge whose time has come.

Following up on last week’s post, Do You Need a Merger Repair, you’ve done a Merger Repair Rapid Assessment, and determined that your most recent M&A integration efforts just didn’t get the job done. Now what?

Your company closed the deal over two years ago but the combined organization is still not operating as one company – results are lagging, customers and key talent are defecting, and shareholders are pressuring the Board.

This should not be the case – right? Management thought they had checked off all of the right deal actions:

A Checklist for a Smoother Transition to Integration
By Jim Jeffries

Too often companies under-perform their responsibilities for what the deal requires before passing the baton to the Integration team.  Due Diligence is not just about numbers and validating the correctness and completeness of...

An Effective Acquisition Process Requires Both
By Kalle Kilpi, Founder, Products & BD for Midaxo

M&A capability is built around people, processes and tools. Good people are, of course, the most important thing to have, but a good process and good tools can significantly increase the success rate. A good M&A process helps people focus on the right things and follow best practices. Good M&A tools help run the process with discipline, transparency and good collaboration. Having every deal go through a standard set of considerations reduces deal risks and helps the organization learn from mistakes.

The Benefits of Planning for and Engaging in M&A Discussions
By Mike Lord, Senior Consultant for Willis Towers Watson, an M&A Leadership Council Partner

You’ve spent years building your relationship with your scheme sponsor, developing a collaborative and integrated approach to funding and investment – then bang, out of the blue, a third party makes a bid for the sponsor and suddenly all bets are off. 

The mechanism creates a "win-win" situation.
By Greg Stowe, Director of Valuation & Business Analytics for BDO, a partner of the M&A Leadership Council

Transaction stakeholders continually are seeking innovative ways to translate deal value into a ‘win-win’ situation for both the buyer and the seller. Among the mechanisms considered in structuring a deal has been the use of an earn-out in establishing deal value.

Compatible Management Teams Are Critical
By Mergermarket, a Partner of M&A Leadership Council

A new report from Kilberry in partnership with Mergermarket, A View from Both Sides: How PE firms and sellers can form wise partnerships, reveals that successful PE deals occur when a thorough two-way due diligence is practiced by both the PE investor and the target investment company. One key area of potential growth for PE investors is to find companies with stellar management teams – and avoid targets with teams that are incompatible with their goals. At the same time, management teams need to understand whether an investor will make a good fit for their culture and working style.