Merger Acquisition Integration Best Practices

A well-planned merger acquisition integration procedure can help you to increase the percentage of your deal value. This is a complicated process that requires a mix of operational skills, organizational abilities, finance, the management of change and cultural expertise to be successful. If you do it right, you will yield up to 12 percent more total profits to shareholders than those who don’t.

The company that is acquiring should begin contemplating the process of integration as soon as is possible, during the due diligence and negotiation phases. An assessment of the culture of the target can help you to shape your approach to due-diligence meetings, top management meetings, and the initial planning. In one healthcare acquisition, for instance, managers utilized the initial insight they gained into the culture of the target to make strategic choices regarding synergies and structuring the integration team. They made tactical decisions such as limiting how many people attended the page initial meetings, and limiting the number of functional areas.

One of the main practices we see in successful mergers is the use an organized process to capture synergies. This involves putting line leaders in charge of the achievement of their goals, and holding them accountable for their performance. It also means the integration of synergies into leaders’ annual operating plans and budgets.

It is crucial to have an integrated management team for the duration of the post-close integration period which could be as long as two years. This team must be given the authority to act swiftly and have access to all relevant information.