M&A Integration Masterclass

Consultant/Trainer: Julienne Baron

Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) is a high risk / high (potential) reward activity. The best deals can create huge value and a step change in size, performance and capability for an organisation. However, many deals fail and destroy value, some due to transaction errors but predominantly due to integration errors and inadequate integration planning.

This two-day interactive ‘M&A: Integration’ Masterclass covers how to approach M&A deals and deliver their potential value, including how to address the challenges presented by limited information, having limited control over some aspects of the integration and diverse objectives across stakeholders, all of which make this activity different from other complex projects. It provides an end-to-end framework and tools to address specific issues and themes which frequently arise and contribute to the high failure rate in M&A integration.

Participants

  • The training will benefit commercial, finance and legal professionals engaged in M&A and HR, Insurance, Tax, IT, Integration, Project Management Office and Investor Relations/Communications professionals advising on aspects of M&A transactions.
  • Training packages can be customised to cater for the level of M&A experience of the participants and content/case studies are adapted to reflect risks pertinent to the industry or class of business in which the participants operate.

Learning Objectives

During the course, participants will focus on:
  • Understanding different integration models.
  • How to set up and maintain relentless and consistent focus on the deal value drivers, link integration to these value drivers and establish a coherent programme of changes to deliver deal synergies.
  • How to set up and organise the many stakeholders to handle the dynamics of deal integration and avoid confusion and chaos.
  • How to harness the energy and knowledge of those impacted to deliver the integration and avoid the drag of (sometimes subtle) resistance.

The sessions make extensive use of case studies, stories and examples to deepen understanding. These augment the framework and tools to develop the ability to recognise and adapt to the specific challenge each deal presents vs following a generic template based on what worked on a previous deal. By taking a significant proportion of your deal community through the Masterclass, the collective understanding of what it takes to organise and deliver deal integration helps avoid a siloed approach and enhances the important cooperation required across business and functions. This masterclass should therefore be a significant crucial step to building the abilities, organisation and coordination to not only reliably deliver M&A projects but provide the basis for improvement and evolution which ensures it meets the needs of not only today’s deals but tomorrow’s.
This Masterclass provides an end-to-end framework and tools to address specific issues in integration but goes beyond this to focus on four themes which frequently arise and contribute to the high failure rate in M&A integration if not done well. These focus areas are:
  • Eye on the Prize – How to set up and maintain relentless and consistent focus on the deal value drivers
  • Integration Choices – How to link integration to the value drivers and establish a coherent programme of changes to deliver deal synergies
  • Leadership & Organisation – How to set up and organise the many stakeholders to handle the dynamics of deal integration and avoid confusion and chaos
  • Bring people with you – How to harness the energy and knowledge of those impacted to deliver the integration and avoid the drag of (sometimes subtle) resistance

Programme

This Masterclass provides an end-to-end framework and tools to address specific issues in integration but goes beyond this to focus on four themes which frequently arise and contribute to the high failure rate in M&A integration if not done well. These focus areas are:
  • Eye on the Prize – How to set up and maintain relentless and consistent focus on the deal value drivers
  • Integration Choices – How to link integration to the value drivers and establish a coherent programme of changes to deliver deal synergies
  • Leadership & Organisation – How to set up and organise the many stakeholders to handle the dynamics of deal integration and avoid confusion and chaos
  • Bring people with you – How to harness the energy and knowledge of those impacted to deliver the integration and avoid the drag of (sometimes subtle) resistance