M&A with impact

Acquisitions can significantly accelerate top line growth and often make the headlines, but the failure rate of M&A is extremely high – measured in net financial value creation. Extensive studies and research show failure rates for M&A deals ranging from 50%¹ and up to as high as 90%².

In our own 2016 pan-Nordic M&A survey, respondents from across the Nordic M&A community – including business development, line management and private equity – rate only 62% of their own deals as successful. However, studies also show that companies that are actively engaged in M&A, i.e. frequent acquirers, on average over a multi-year period outperform inactive M&A companies, i.e. companies that do not make any deals, in terms of total shareholder return results generation³.

This begs the question: What is it that the most successful acquirers do to achieve success?

Our guide is meant as a practical reference handbook on how to increase the likelihood of M&A success for business executives who may not already have significant M&A experience. In this introduction, we share tools, methods and insights that are tried and tested and have proven to increase the likelihood of M&A success over time. It is not our ambition to provide an exhaustive guide to how to manage all M&A situations, but focus is on the following three themes:

Part 1

Successful M&A strategies – outlining five M&A strategy considerations that have proven to increase the likelihood of successful M&A across industries over time.

Part 2

Due diligence success factors – focused on practical tips and tools, including due diligence for commercial, operational, supply chain, IT as well as leadership and team.

Part 3

Success factors for post-deal impact – outlining key considerations for impact post deal,which synergies have the highest success rates and the key to realising these synergies.

Notes and references

¹ Sher, Robert (19 March 2012). Why Half of All M&A Deals Fail, and What You Can Do About It. Forbes

² Christensen, Clayton M., Alton, Richard, Rising, Curtis & Waldeck, Andrew (March 2011). The Big Idea: The New M&A Playbook. Harvard Business Review

³ Harding, David & Rovit, Sam (2004). Mastering the Merger: Four Critical Decisions That Make or Break the Deal. Harvard Business Press