Join Mergermarket and Industry Experts as They Look at the State of Play for Financial Services
Presented by Remark/Mergermarket, a Partner of M&A Leadership Council

After a record year for Financial Services M&A, dealmaking figures in the sector have fallen off in 2016 as overall M&A activity softened. However, several factors this year – such as the increasing relevance of fintech, tighter regulations and the promise of a new US government administration ...

Some Interesting M&A Data
Provided by Mergermarket, a Partner of M&A Leadership Council

With two blockbuster mega-deals occurring in the third quarter of this year and overall M&A on the decline, September became the highest-valued month despite having the lowest number of deals ... 

Available M&A Positions
Presented by Talent Services of M&A Leadership Council

Look at our opportunities for Integration Management Consultants with a leading North American firm and Director of Acquisitions Operations for project management support in acquisition projects ...

Everyone says it all the time: “M&A is a skill set, an enterprise competency, an organizational capability.” 

We certainly believe that, and I’ll bet you do, too. Common sense and practical experiences (both good and bad!) have demonstrated time and again that you have to work to get your organization good at M&A. Even with deep pockets of expertise, for example, in the corporate development department, or perhaps in the IT shop, many organizations still struggle to achieve consistently superior business results from M&A.

Now the bad news! Last week we asked the question, “If your CEO or Chairman of the Board called you out of the blue and said, “We have to get better at M&A integration. What are the most important priority improvements we need to make to have the biggest impact on business results?”

This article is the third in our series on culture. Please be sure to read Pre-Deal Cultural Due Diligence and Exploring the "Cultural Iceberg" Model.

One of the first questions we routinely ask clients when initially ramping up a due diligence effort or pre-integration planning phase is “Where is IT?” Specifically, we are getting at key principles of success that dictate getting senior-level IT pros involved in an early and comprehensive IT due diligence effort. Surprisingly, many organizations have learned the importance of this lesson the hard way.

At its core, M&A integration is about leading organizations and people through change. The better you are at leading change, the more effective you will be at M&A. Don’t believe me? Check out Change Management Effectiveness Drives Results, which references three highly credible studies that clearly and convincingly demonstrate this key point. Namely, if you are going to do M&A as a growth strategy, you simply must get good at change.

Chairman's Message, September 2016
By Jim Jeffries, Chairman, M&A Leadership Council

Getting at the culture fit of two companies is difficult, to say the least. There is little a buyer can do in terms of formal assessments prior to close, but there are ways to shape the “go, no-go” decision from a... 

Important Opportunities and Risks in M&A Derived from Bundling These Services
Contributed by Willis Towers Watson, a Partner of M&A Leadership Council

Over the last 30 years, mergers and acquisitions have consistently shaped the telecoms, media and technology (TMT) competitive landscape. The current opportunities derived from ‘convergence’...