M&A Blog and News

Blog Posts, News and Articles

Learn from diverse experts across the world of mergers and acquisitions

M&A Leadership Council training outside
June 27, 2013

Welcome, everyone, to the new “M&A Monthly”, our newsletter to the M&A community.  This information piece is an expansion beyond the former Alumni Newsletter.  It is our goal to provide timely information, insights and new practices as the Council discovers better ways to address the challenges in M&A. 

June 26, 2013

A Roadmap for a Successful International Integration

"Closing" an acquisition does not automatically make it a success.  Rather, much of the benefit and value of an acquisition can be realized (or not) in the post-acquisition integration of the organizations. This is especially important when the acquired company has operations in multiple countries outside the US.  In-house counsel often find themselves responsible for managing these global integrations, and navigating different legal systems, employee rights and expectations.

June 24, 2013

"Real Life" Success Stories, Best Practices & Case Studies

I have shared this best practice during previous Art of M&A Integration workshops, but I believe it bears repeating, especially in today’s world of internet and social media.

June 24, 2013

Years ago, a client pinpointed the M&A readiness challenge…“Once the deal took off, our team never caught up.” Admittedly, anyone in the M&A business has had the experience of chasing a speeding train down the tracks after it had already left the station. If you are like me, you vowed never to do that again.

June 23, 2013

Mid-Cap (US$ 20m-US$ 1bn) vs. Large Cap (US$ 1bn+) Deals in North America

June 18, 2013

No matter the number of case studies one researches or the number of consultants one talks with, the statistics have remained the same for the last two decades. The majority of well-intentioned mergers fail to achieve the expectations set by management at the announcement. Interestingly enough, the reason for such dismal results is that past emphasis and energy has been placed on analysis and negotiation of the deal and seldom on how to actually deliver the value.

June 17, 2013

A common issue we hear from attendees to our M&A workshops and others is the lack of dedicated, qualified resources to effectively manage the integration effort. Most companies are typically “lean and mean,” with everyone already having full-time jobs.  So how do you handle the demands required to drive the integration effort? Here are recommended alternatives to handling the shortage of resources we all typically face in a business integration effort.

June 11, 2013

Amazingly, 50-70% of all M&A deals still fail to achieve their full, stated financial objectives. After all the blood, sweat and ink that has been spilled warning about M&A failure factors over the years, many deals still destroy value outright or make little difference. This is not just folklore. According to the most definitive study in the last twenty years, the Federal Trade Commission conducted