27 November M&A: Top Ten Drivers November 27, 2019 By SuperUser Account Mergers Mergers, Synergy 0 Embarking on a strategy to grow revenue or cut costs via M&A acquisition is bold and risky. The failure-rate statistics for deals is not a pretty picture. It is not a leap to draw the conclusion from the high failure rate that the typical acquirer materially overestimates the synergy benefits that will accrue after close. Perhaps the blame for a too high valuation on synergy benefits is over-exuberance. However, I think this is the wrong inference. I believe that under-estimation of the importance of the post-merger integration planning is the single greatest factor leading to this high failure-rate phenomenon. The preventative action is development of a robust post-merger integration plan that aligns stakeholders’ activities with the deal thesis. Objectives, Measures, and Benefits A critical first step to creating this plan is for leaders to communicate a deal thesis with clear success criteria. The objectives, measures, and benefits must be detailed and well defined. For example, if they are not tangible or they are vague, it is highly likely they will lose gravitas as they timeline moves forward. As a starting point, to creating a robust deal thesis, here are the top ten drivers of M&A acquisitions[1] Top-Ten Drivers of M&A acquisitions 1. Industry Synergy Achieve economies of scale by buying customer / supplier, or competitor. Acquisition of a competitor is horizontal, and acquisition of a customer or supplier is vertical. 2. Strategic Planning Accomplish strategic goals more quickly and more successfully such as entering new markets or acquiring technology or people assets. 3. Differential efficiency Realize a return on investment by buying a company with less efficient processes and making them more efficient 4. Inefficient Management Realize a return by buying a company with inefficient managers and replacing them 5. Market Power Increase market share and ability to increase price/profit. 6. Financial Synergy Lower cost of capital by smoothing cash flow and increasing debt capacity 7. Under valuation Take advantage of a price that is low in comparison to past stock prices and/or estimated future prices, or in relation to the cost the buyer would incurs if it built the company from scratch 8. Corporate Governance Assert control at the board of directors’ level in an underperforming company with dispersed stakeholder ownership 9. Tax Efficiency Obtain a more favorable tax status 10. Managerialism Increase the pay and/or power of managers STEPHEN D WISE INTEGRATION PROFESSIONALS DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE TRACTION [1] Lajoux, Alexandra Reed (2019). The art of M & A : a merger, acquisition, and buyout guide. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Related Articles Two themes for Portfolio Agility I have seen the future and it is agile. The agile I am talking about is not a tool, or methodology, or a movement. It is the outcome when Project Managers have discussions with Sponsors on how to go faster, or how to beat competitors, or how to win new business. Portfolio management is listing, prioritizing, selecting, and controlling business ideas/investments in the context of the top success drivers and constraints affecting the business. In my experience, many projects are handed to the Project Manager that have risks or budget or schedule issues that the PM can’t even quantify. Unfortunately, these very items are likely to be the root cause of missed expectations, budget overruns or schedule delays. Our challenge is to enter into an ongoing conversation to ensure the right investments are being made at the right time. We need to develop and design a new way of thinking to respond to the needs of the business. Here are two themes to help support this change: 1. Focus on enhancing the collaboration and communication between the person managing the work (Project Manager) and the person who wants the work done (Sponsor). Create visibility anytime and to any desired level of detail. Speed everything up so that we can see business benefits/failures faster. 2. Gain trust by eliminating multiple sources of data/truth by bringing data integrity into the project and program environment. Ensure culture is conducive to increased reporting. Communicate better about those things that people care about. I first head the following from an industry research analyst, “We need better brakes … so we can go faster”. How true! By investing in portfolio management skills and tools to improve communication and data quality, the organizations we support will have improved agility to amplify successes and reallocate resources from underperforming projects. Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.