Mergers & Acquisitions
In general, companies seeking to expand need to decide whether to grow organically or via acquisitions. M&A has always been an ideal strategy for both strategic and financial buyers (the increasing presence and size of private equity funds has had a significant impact on the recent M&A ‘boom’).
There are, however, a few typical M&A pitfalls worth noting:
- To become a successful player in the M&A market, getting the M&A strategy right is of paramount importance. Many mergers fail due to an unclear M&A strategy, leading to a poor fit between the potential target, over payment and over extension.
- In the screening and due diligence phase it is essential not to limit an in depth commercial due diligence to financial data only.
- Once the deal is closed the integration/separation environment is characterised by an immense uncertainty on all levels which needs to be orchestrated cautiously. Typical challenges may include inadequate integration planning, lack of executive alignment on merger rationale, loss of focus on day-to-day business and merger benefits not driven through quickly enough.
Our Mergers & Acquisitions offering
Our services encompass the whole M&A cycle enabling clients to quickly address key challenges. We deliver a fully integrated service by working closely with other Deloitte teams, including Corporate Finance Advisory, Corporate and Private Equity Transaction Services, and Human Capital Transformation.
Our Consulting M&A support includes:
- Full M&A process delivery: we offer guidance and support throughout the complete M&A process, from M&A strategy definition, target screening, due diligence, transaction execution, integration/separation planning and implementation through to transformation.
- Commercial due diligence: our methodology includes identification of the target capitalisation, competitor situation and client base assessment, management and ownership evaluation, application of adequate valuation methods, cultural fit analysis, growth and value potential identification, financials analysis, risks and expectations evaluations, support of the decision making and timing process.
- Integration/separation: we support integration/separation planning and implementation programmes around the following dimensions: integration program management, synergies & shareholders, customers, markets & products, communication and change management, organization & workforce, functional planning & execution and locations & facilities.
- Transformation: through the breadth of our capabilities from system transformation to HR workforce transformation, we are able to support clients in the post integration process to reach the target state and achieve synergy targets.
