Chairman's Message - November 2020
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council  

The M&A surge of Q3 and early Q4 2020 has been nothing short of remarkable. Jumping from nearly a full pause of all activity - other than deals essentially completed before the onset of COVID-19, deal activity over the last 60 days or so has pushed many corporate acquirers into overdrive and pushed many professional services firms to “near sold-out” status.

It’s no surprise that highly sophisticated global acquirers have used the pandemic, along with their strong balance sheet and experienced internal resources, to “double-down” on more and faster deals, viewing the pandemic as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape market share.

However, surprising for many, is the number of “net-new” acquirers that are now seizing on this opportunity to begin their growth through acquisition campaign. In the last 60 days, we have met with over a dozen of such executive teams ranging from roughly $100M to well over $3B in annual revenues that are just now venturing out to buy their first-ever company – or in some cases, their first acquisition in recent history.

As a result, we are pleased to offer another means to provide value to the corporate M&A community with the launch of the M&A Foundations Briefing.

Many in the MALC Alumni Community have heard us say (probably on more than one occasion) that “M&A is a team sport;” and that M&A is a top-down, strategy-led endeavor that is dependent on superb, “bottom-up” program management to produce the intended results. Those convictions are the bedrock.

Equally valid is that an acquirer’s executive team must be solidly aware, informed, and aligned to the critical requirements. This allows for leading the organization through every phase of the overall M&A lifecycle and having the best chance for hitting the deal’s key business objectives.

That’s the role and purpose of the M&A Foundations Briefing. In one or two brief executive alignment and work-out sessions. This process has been used to equip executive teams with the core understanding, awareness and action planning to help them quickly accelerate and leapfrog from M&A “newbie” to “readiness for successful launch.”

For more information, please contact me or search for the related blog article in this edition of the monthly newsletter.

Very best regards,

Mark Herndon

Chairman, M&A Leadership Council