Culture can often be neglected simply because it is difficult to measure, especially when compared to hard facts such as number of employees or company revenue. After all, what constitutes a “good” culture? Definitions may vary from company to company and even among members of your own acquisition team. Despite this challenge, company culture should …
Category: M&A and External Growth
5 Ways to Quickly Lose a Deal
It goes without saying that the introductory meeting is a crucial step of the acquisition process. If it goes well, your partnership could result in a successful deal. If it goes badly, you may be throwing away a great opportunity and have wasted hours of time and resources chasing the deal. Your goal for the …
Make It or Break It: How You Can Avoid Culture Clashes in Mergers & Acquisitions
Culture clashes can make or break a deal. Just think about a few infamous deals that fell apart, such as the Time Warner-AOL merger in 2001. In Deals from Hell, Robert Bruner analyzes the reasons for failure in depth along, including examples of deals that failed due to cultural issues. In fact, cultural issues are …
What Are Buyers Really Looking For in M&A?
What is the best way to position your company to be sold? I’ve often heard this question from owners and executives who aren’t quite ready to exit their business but who may be thinking about its future over the next five to 10 years. If you’re in this position, you’re wise to begin thinking about …
M&A Update: 3Q 2015 [Infographic]
M&A activity in the first 9 months of 2015 remained strong reaching $3.2 trillion globally. It was the strongest first 9-month period since 2007 for global mergers and acquisitions. The trend of large, mega deals continued in the third quarter of 2015. Global deal value increased by 32% in the first 9 months of 2015 …
Buyers vs. Sellers: Strategies for Agreeing on Deal Structure
If buyers want asset purchases and sellers want stock purchases how do the two ever come to an agreement? Leading Tax Attorney Alexander Lee of Paul Hastings, answered this question in our webinar “Tax Considerations for M&A.“ There are several factors that are important when the buyer and seller discuss deal structure. Specify Deal Structure in …
The Best Advice for M&A Success
In my over 20 years of pursing strategic, not-for-sale acquisitions for clients, the most important piece of advice I have is: be prepared. It may sound simple, but I cannot stress enough how critical preparation is to M&A success. This applies to every stage of the Roadmap to Acquisitions, our M&A process, from initial strategy …
What Leads to Premium or Discount When It Comes to Valuation Multiples?
As you might expect, sellers look for a premium multiple. Buyers typically will only consider paying a premium to market if they are adequately convinced that the value of the potential target justifies it. This begs the question: How does one derive a rationale for discount and premium multiples on a business? There are a …
Keys to Successful Minority Investment
On yesterday’s M&A Express videocast, The Hidden Power of Minority Ownership, I mentioned Marcus Lemonis, a businessman who turns around struggling businesses in the CNBC show, the Profit. I’ve written about Lemonis before on the blog, and how he really prefers to use minority ownership so that the founders or original owners of the business continue to …
