DealRoom – Best Practices for Post-Merger Acquisition Integration

Inadequate post-deal integration practices are the most common reason for M&A failure. DealRoom helps companies avoid common mistakes and increase the value of their M&A deals by assisting in the post-acquisition integration process.

The focus, sequencing, and pace of integration post-deal should be tailored specifically to serve the objectives and the sources of value that warranted the deal in the first in the first. It might seem obvious, but many businesses are reliant on generic best practices and off-the shelf plans that focus too much on processes and overlook the specific aspects of their deal.

One company, for instance recognized that R&D was a major source of value in their acquisition, but because the core product of the acquired firm was still in development, they chose to skip the cost synergies and concentrate on growth by leveraging the new company’s sales channels and capabilities in a more strategic manner. They would then reevaluate the decision to fully integrate R&D over the long-term.

Another important practice in successful mergers of a larger scale is to assign the responsibility of capturing cost as well as revenue synergies onto line managers within the acquired company. This ensures that line leaders receive the appropriate incentives and responsibilities to lead tactical execution. It helps to track the progress toward goals in real-time. We’ve also noticed that it helps to build in the capability to hold short meetings, iterative ones with specific targets and timelines that allow teams to change their goals and adjust their and efforts as they move through the PMI cycle.

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