Last week, thousands of investors gathered at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. Warren Buffett, perhaps one of the greatest strategic acquirers, shared his insights for successful acquisitions. There are two pearls of Buffett wisdom, reported direct from the meeting by Dealbook that I’d like to highlight in this post.
Looking at the Big Picture
Buffett insists that the most important thing isn’t negotiating every fine point of a deal, but being right on the broader prospects of the potential takeover target.
I can confirm this from my own experience as an M&A advisor. Far too often I see company leaders getting caught up in the minutiae of a deal. While details do matter, the success of your acquisition doesn’t lie in the technicalities. You can get every detail exactly right, but if you acquire the wrong company, your acquisition is doomed to failure.
Think about buying a car that’s the exact shade of blue you want, but the transmission has been trashed! Or imagine purchasing your “dream home” that’s located in the wrong state. No matter what color the car, or how beautiful the house, neither is a good purchase when you take in the whole picture. If you’re getting bogged down in the weeds, take a step back and look at your strategic objectives.
Evaluating Future Demand
According to Buffett, “The mistakes [in mergers and acquisitions] are always about making an improper assessment of the economic future.”
When talking about is erroneous analysis of future demand for the product line of the business you’re about to acquire.
Understanding future demand is critical, because without demand for its products and services, any business risks becoming obsolete. So when you think about acquiring a company, consider what the market will look like in 5 or 10 years. Who will the customers be? What will be the demand for these kinds of products or services? Is this sector shrinking or growing? Without taking the market dynamics into consideration, you risk acquiring a dud.
These two points from Buffett may seem simple, but it can be easy to get caught up in the excitement of a deal or to over-focus on the details. Remember to take a step back and assess the entire situation, taking into account your own strategic goals and future demand. Evaluating an opportunity with this broader perspective will help increase your chances of a successful deal.
