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Why we are needed:
Most mergers and acquisitions fail to fulfill the expectations of their participants. These failures can be traced to four fundamental errors:
- Ill defined objectives as to the results of the merger or acquisition;
- Inadequate "due diligence" on the part of the acquirer or acquired;
- Failure to anticipate and plan for the psychological readjustments needed by both the "old owners" and the acquiring ownership and management;
- Failure to establish rules, guidelines and schedules governing the process needed to integrate the various corporate business areas.
These problems and failures are especially acute when private companies are being acquired, and even more acute when private companies engage in a merger of equals, often under the aegis of venture capital.
What do we do:
Our services are provided at three junctures:
-Before the deal
- To help determine merger/acquisition objectives and grow/merge/buy decisions
- To help develop a business plan based on these objectives
- To oversee the performance of due diligence
- To develop a preliminary organizational structure for the resulting firm
-During the deal
- To clarify the psychological implications of the merger or acquisition for the principals and senior managers
- To assist in the development of the shareholder agreement
- To develop policies to ensure the retention of the best employees of both parties
- To develop PR guidelines to govern public statements during the negotiation and after the merger or acquisition
- To assist in establishing price
- To review any other considerations that may be asked or offered as part of the deal
- To warn of actions that should be considered deal breakers
-After the deal
- To develop a time line for changes
- To illuminate problems arising from failures in due diligence and help devise solutions
- To assist in revising the corporate public interface - rebranding
- To monitor the redesign of the organization
- To assist in the alignment of personnel policies:
- Pay scales
- Benefits
- Titles
- To assist in the alignment of IT structures and activities:
- Communications
- Networks
- Desktops
- Application software
- Policies
- To assist in the alignment of accounting and financial systems, practices and data:
- Conversion scheduling
- Policies
- Data conversion
- Reporting
- To assist in the alignment of business continuity practices and policies
- To advise on building a unified team
- To determine who speaks for the firm
- To define the unacknowledged costs of the acquisition
- To guide and oversee periodic reforecasting based on actuals, and to perform a post-acquisition review of performance vs promises.
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