M&A library

M&A is a tedious process that has a lot of moving parts. M&A requires attention to detail and communication with different stakeholders in the company. So what do you do when you are the one person in charge of everything?

Establishing strong connections with a target company is essential in M&A. Securing deals can be challenging, but a strategic approach can result in mutually beneficial outcomes.

Acquiring a company is complex and challenging, and in some instances, unnecessary. If buyers only need the people inside of a target company, they can do an acquihire instead of a traditional acquisition.

Before buyers and sellers agree to an LOI, there are many informal conversations that happen in the background. Buyers must carefully approach any informal conversations to avoid turning a buyer off while still securing the deal.

The initial conversations with a potential target should build trust and strengthen the relationship. These conversations allow the buyer and seller to get to know each other and explore possibilities of working together.

M&A is an excellent tool for growing a company. Still, acquirers should consider a variety of strategies before committing to a transaction. Choosing the right growth approach also dictates any integration plans.

Standing up a corporate development function from scratch is a challenging, yet exciting task. And one of the pillars of a successful M&A function is a solid team who can effectively run deals.

Integrating an acquired company is always challenging. Acquirers must execute quickly and efficiently, navigate changes, and preserve the target company's value. 

There needs to be alignment from both sides of a deal to have a smooth integration process. Integration never goes as planned, but there are things that teams can do to make it much easier for everyone involved.

Revenue synergies are one of the hardest things to achieve in any transaction. With proper planning and the right approach, revenue synergies can help teams achieve their deal thesis.

There are different ways to create and grow a business: build up from scratch, acquire another company, or gain strategic alignment with other companies through partnerships. Through a partnership, a business can leverage someone else's technology for faster growth.

Auction processes in M&A are very challenging for strategic buyers and corporate development teams need more than a compelling offer to compete in an auction. Speed can be a differentiator, which can help edge out the competition.

For a business to be successful in the future, integration must be the focus of everyone involved in the deal. The goal is to ensure business continuity while maintaining the target company's integrity and core.

There are many reasons why an owner sells their business. Before talking to an actual buyer, potential sellers need to prepare their business in order to maximize value.

A reverse auction is a process where the buyer broadcasts their interest in acquiring a specific type of company in the market and engages with potential targets. Sellers will then line up to apply in the hopes of getting picked by the buyer for the acquisition.

With proper planning and the right approach, revenue synergies can help teams achieve their deal thesis. The acquired sales operations team knows their customers and products better than anyone, and acquirers should consider their opinion on the go-to-market integration plan.

Often organic growth is not enough to achieve the business strategy, and that's where M&A comes in. Corporate development finds the gap between the current state of the business and its objective to look for inorganic growth opportunities.

Many of the largest companies in the world turn to M&A for inorganic growth. However, first-time acquirers often find it difficult to buy companies due to a lack of experience and reputation.

The sales operation is the cornerstone of every business. Without it, companies would not have revenue. If a company purely relies on inbound sales, it's time to create an outbound pipeline and actively generate demand by using marketing and events.

Selling a business is a difficult task that requires a lot of planning and preparation. However, most entrepreneurs refuse to entertain the idea of a sale until it is too late. The best time to plan an exit is when times are good, not in a desperate situation.

Every company wants to evolve and grow its business, and M&A is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to grow. Without an M&A thesis, acquirers might end up wasting time, money, and opportunities.

Getting alignment early on from all leaders will help increase deal success. Leadership alignment means both leadership teams are aligned on communications, change management components, strategy, and transaction execution.

The finance team holds a huge responsibility in M&A and must conduct diligence effectively. The finance team leads the due diligence process and must be involved as soon as the acquirer gains access to the data room.

Creating a solid strategy requires collaboration between the strategy team, corporate development, business leaders, and executives. If done right, M&A is a powerful tool that can drive business value.

Revenue synergies are one of the most challenging metrics to achieve during integration, but are also the primary reason companies buy businesses. It's safe to say that many transactions fail to realize their intended value.

Ensure the internal team has the latest information throughout the deal’s lifecycle. On the other side, communicate clearly with the target company to build key relationships.

In M&A, time is the enemy. Waiting for closing is one of the most excruciating parts of M&A. The longer a deal takes to close, the more risks it poses for both parties.

Lawyers can heavily influence the transaction’s prioritization. They are the ones that will review the contracts and work with the functional leads to focus on the value drivers of the deal.

Companies are bought to achieve revenue synergies in new markets. Getting the GTM integration just right should be a top priority. The go-to-market is one of the most critical parts of any integration, and knowing the challenges will help.

The biggest challenge when scaling a function is hiring the right people. Hire for potential rather than experience. Look for intelligent people who are culturally fit, then figure the rest out.

Unforeseeable things always happen during integration, and the best thing to do is to pivot, solve the problem, and move on. Ensure that everybody's working to their optimal level and that decisions are made with the best possible information.

You need a comprehensive, well-documented change management plan because the process never runs perfectly. Make sure that everyone understands the message, who is delivering it, when to convey it, and how to deliver it.

Lawyers must have a good grasp of what is for sale. Depending on the nature of the transaction, there are different risks and issues that may arise.

Risabh prefers targeting companies that are not for sale because if there are more interested buyers, valuation goes up, and the success ratio of securing the deal goes down. Furthermore, proprietary deals are much faster than going through an auction.

In this webinar, Adam Coffey, CEO of Advisory Guru, discusses the basics of sell-side M&A.

Any serious acquirer knows that inbound deals are not always the best way to get leads. Proactively sourcing deals is the best way to approach M&A. In this webinar, Jeremy Segal, EVP, Corporate Development at Progress, teaches us how to source deals and build a pipeline.

Reactive M&A leads to unproductive deals and can be costly. If you want to pursue valuable acquisitions, you have to be proactive. So, how do you find target companies?

In this webinar with Tom Horton, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy at Kaplan, Inc., we discuss about the evolution of M&A strategy in education technology.

Traditionally, corporate development professionals come from banking roles. And while nothing is wrong with that, it is always fascinating to hear other ways that professionals start their M&A careers. Sharing his career development in M&A is Caleb Shafer, Corporate Development Associate at RS Group plc.

It doesn’t matter if you buy the best company in the world, if integration is not done properly, the value will be lost. In this webinar, Jim Buckley, Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware, talks about how to run an integration-led confirmatory diligence process.

M&A is a fascinating career path, and traditionally there are only few entry points. Banking roles are the most common entry point to M&A, but recently, we have seen an increase in practitioners coming from different backgrounds. Kayla Davis, Vice President, Head of M&A at ABM Industries, went from accounting to M&A, and in this webinar, she shares her journey and key lessons learned along the way.

M&A is not a strategy, it’s a tool used to achieve corporate strategy. But if you already know your true north, having an M&A strategy is just as important.

The importance of integration has never been more prevalent. And standing up a dedicated function to oversee integration is becoming more of a necessity as a company grows more prominent. In this webinar, Ian Burk, EVP of integration at Upland Software, talks about how to stand up an IMO.

From zero revenue to a billion-dollar market capitalization, Upland Software has exponentially grown its business through acquisitions. How did Upland Software do it? In this webinar, Austin Woody, explains how to grow purely on acquisitions.

To be a strategic acquirer, it’s important to have your own proprietary source of deals. There are certain considerations to look at so that the target matches the overall strategy. Learn more in this webinar with Scott Hile.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Sreepathy Viswanathan, Chief Corporate Development Officer, HGS Healthcare, who has 25 years of experience in corporate development, talks about how to build a thorough M&A strategy.

In this webinar, Larry Forman, Senior Manager at Deloitte, helps us understand how to approach M&A negotiations to increase deal success.

In this webinar, Kerry Perez, Head of Diligence and Integration Management Office (M&A) at AMN Healthcare talks about the benefits of standing up a centralized M&A function.

We all know that M&A deals don't end at closing and integration can take a long time. One key to success is having the right people oversee the deal post-close. Tomer Stavitsky, Corporate Development, M&A Lead at Intuitive Surgical, talks about creating the right governance structure in an M&A deal.

In this episode of the M&A Science podcast, Tim Wentworth, shares his experiences as CEO when Cigna bought Express Scripts for $67 Billion, and how leadership and culture made the transaction successful.

Selling your business isn’t easy and many complexities come with the process. In this interview, Noah Waisberg, Co-Founder & CEO of Zuva, talks about his selling experience and the challenges the deal presented..

According to Charles, there are three types of people in the M&A industry: industry experts, deal experts, and integration experts. When you are standing up your M&A function and hiring your head of corporate development, the acquisition strategy needs to dictate your hiring.

The first step to creating a better people experience is understanding the target company’s culture and your own. In this week's podcast interview, Klint Kendrick, Chair of the HR M&A Round Table, talks about how empathy, strategy, and integration can all contribute to a better people experience in M&A.

When building your GTM plan, you have to start with your baseline deliverables. What are the things that need to happen for the functions to be fully integrated? In this interview, Gwen Pope, Head of Global Product M&A at eBay, talks about how to create a successful M&A GTM plan.

On this episode of M&A Science, Jim Buckley, Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware, talks about why you should keep integration as simple as possible.

In this episode of the M&A Science podcast, Kison interviews Jim Buckley, Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware as he talks about how to create a successful integration plan.

In this episode of the M&A Science podcast, Kison interviews Ken Bond, Head of Corporate Development at Cetera Financial Group on how he structures teams approaching diligence.

In this interview with Cameron Weiner, VP of Strategic Development, Head of M&A at Shopko Optical, he shares to decide whether to buy or build a business.

In this episode, Sabeeh Khan, Director, Corporate Strategy & Development at Syniti, and Aaron Whiting, M&A Strategic Programs at ContinuumCloud, talk about how to manage an entire M&A deal, from sourcing, diligence, and integration.

On this episode of M&A Science, Trish Mosconi, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer & Corporate Development at Synchrony discusses how to stay true to culture during a deal. In the interview, she talks about how her team walked away from an almost perfect deal due to cultural differences.

Cisco is one of the largest and most successful acquirers in the world. On this week's episode of the podcast, Karen Ashley, VP of Corporate Development Integration at Cisco, shares how to fully commit to integration from start to finish. Karen shares their process at Cisco, how to have commitment and acquisition strategy alignment meetings, and the success metrics they use very early in the process.

On the episode of M&A Science, Duncan Painter, CEO of Ascential, talks about what a transformative deal means to their organization and how they achieve deal success.

On this episode of M&A Science, Kison interviews Jay Dettling, CEO of Ansira, about how to preserve value in M&A. Learn how Jay creates value during integration, retains value when being acquired, and the importance of communication.

On this episode of M&A Science, Kison interviewed Jeff Bender, CEO at Harris Computer Systems, about how to manage M&A on a high scale. Learn how Harris is operated, what kind of deals Jeff works on, and his approach to valuation.

In this interview with Jay Jester, Partner at Plexus Capital, LLC we explore the world of private equity, and how his team sources deals.

As head of corporate development you need to know how to effectively manage your internal team and dynamics. In this episode of M&A Science Live, Randy Tinsley, Vice President of Strategy & Corporate Development at Synopsys, breaks down how to get internal alignment, build your team, and set them up for success.

What does it take to successfully manage M&A with a one person team? We're going to find out as Jason Lippert, CEO of LCI Industries (NYSE: LCII), shares how he manages M&A with a small team

In this interview, Darren Lampert, CEO at GrowGeneration Corp, discusses transitioning from a private to a public company.

Kison interviewed Brett Shawn, Senior Vice President, Assistant General Counsel at Warburg Pincus, about how M&A deals are executed from legal's perspective.

Kison interviewed Allen Gilmer, Founder, Advisor, and former CEO/Chairman of Enverus about how to choose a COO after deciding to step back and what role you still play as a board member.

On this episode of M&A Science, Kison Patel interviews Sally Henderson, Strategic partner and Principle Leadership Mentor at BTD. For over twenty years, Sally has helped c-suite executives in the world’s biggest brands and world-class creative agencies thrive during high-stakes change and leadership transitions. In this interview, they discuss how to provide the right support to leaders.

Kison interviewed Clayton Stanley, Vice President and Head of Corporate Development at AmeriVet Veterinary Partners, about how to make the JV model work on scale and figuring out the right size of the M&A team. Learn about how you can create a joint venture model that is scalable and the prioritization of tasks.

In this webinar, Kison interviews Jerry Will, Vice President of Corporate Development at 3M, about how to manage a multi-vertical M&A strategy through continuous improvement and leadership development.

In this interview, Kison will be speaking with Mike Palumbo, Director of Corporate Development at Halo Branded Solutions. He is a corporate development and M&A professional with more than nine years of exposure to the finance, operations and executive leadership departments of middle-market companies.

Kison Patel will be interviewing Johanna Tseng, Manager, M&A Integration - Corporate Development office at Coinbase, about how being proactive about integration can differentiate value in deals.

In this webinar, you will learn about using relationships to shape a deal, common challenges teams often face when working with the deal's other side, and how to foster genuine relationships on both sides of the deal

Kison interviews Christina Ungaro about sourcing talent focused acquisitions, structuring these unique transactions, and hear about how today's environment is affecting them.

On this episode of M&A Science, Kison interviews Isaac Lund, VP of Corp Development and M&A at National Express LLC, about how to work with private sellers in order to get the best outcome.

In this live interview, Kison will be speaking with Ajit Sane, Director IT M&A at Agilent Technologies, about winding a business down. He will give a step by step guide of what that process looks like and give advice regarding what obstacles you may face.

Kison interviews Neal McNamara, Co-Founder of Virtas Partners, an advisory firm specializing in preparing companies financially and operationally for M&A, capital raises and restructuring. Together they will discuss how to plan a divestiture from an accounting perspective.

Kison Patel is sitting down with Erik Levy to discuss how the approach to valuation sets the precedent for integration and diligence. They will cover topics such as measuring success and what types of valuations should be done during different stages of a deal.

In this webinar, you will learn about how to preserve a company's value during integration, how to protect smaller companies during M&A, and the hardest parts of a company to maintain after an integration

In this webinar, you will learn aboutwhat rebadging in M&A is, the lifecycle of the rebadging process, and common challenges that occur during rebadging.

In this webinar, you will learn about why project management is so important in M&A, how to build a guide to project management M&A, and common challenges when setting up project management workflows

In this webinar, you will learn about how decision making affects a deal outcome, how to use the agility model to improve practices, and more.

In this webinar, you will learn about how to create relationships with potential deal targets and communicate with a target during the deal process.

In this webinar, Kim Jones and Devorah Bertucci discuss the importance of corporate development teams collaborating with integration teams during transactions. Also discussed is the importance of both teams creating a relationship with the target.

In this webinar, you will be challenged to re-think the way integration is approached. Hear from Ben de Haldevang and David Boyd from The Agile Gorilla on their take on why integration often goes wrong and how you can avoid common mistakes.

In this webinar, you will learn how to update the integration process by taking a people-first approach, even during a time of remote working. Learn vital lessons on how to adapt to a virtual work environment by utilizing tech and other communication tools available.

In this webinar, hear from industry professionals on why culture and leadership is so critical to a transaction's success. Topics covered include when to address culture and leadership issues and growth strategies.

In this webinar, learn the importance of innovation in M&A, specifically during integration. Toby Tester shares tactics and strategies you can apply to your own practice and breaks down how to adjust plays to fit the specific needs of each deal.

In this webinar, you will learn how to make sure both sides are happy at the end of a deal. Hear lessons learned from Atlassian team members and what practices they applied to integration that created an extremely successful outcome.

During this webinar, you will learn key things to remember during a divestiture, tips for building out a communication plan, how to keep employees engaged during the divestiture, and more.

Culture and integration start before the deal closes. Do you have the same values? How do you praise performance? In this session, Valeria and Jonathan discuss why culture is so important to deal success.

During this webinar, you will learn how to communicate specific techniques in each role, address a reluctance to change, define and manage the success of a corp dev team, and more.

During this webinar, you will learn about employee support, how to leverage the acquired company leaders in communication, what mechanisms / processes to use to avoid potential disconnects, and more.

During this webinar, you will learn how M&A could be automated, specifically with machine learning in data rooms, the future of tech development, and about the importance of transparency in which tools already have advanced automation

Teams are trying to figure out how to modernize IMO, and how to build a synergy plan that actually delivers. In this session, Jonathan and Bill discuss bench strength, creating the right IMO team, tips for modernizing, and more.

Not every company uses the same method for valuation. In this session, Brian Buchert gives some insight to his team's valuation "secret sauce".