Some might say the best time to pursue an acquisition is when the right opportunity comes along, but they’re wrong. The best time to pursue M&A is whenever you are ready. The best opportunities are those that you seek out proactively. If you wait around for opportunity to come to you, you may be missing …
Tag: mergers
Strategic Buyers Hungry for Acquisitions
Recent analysis shows that deal activity reached $435 billion in the first quarter of 2016 in North America and Europe. This is the second highest total on record and 84% of the deals were executed by strategic buyers. Companies with lots of cash on their balance sheets and are now willing to deploy some of it …
Pfizer and Allergan Break Up: Lessons in Staying Ahead of M&A Hazards
Pfizer and Allergan have announced that they are abandoning their $160 billion merger. This resulted from a political storm around tax inversions, a technique whereby US companies relocate abroad to avoid the high US corporate tax rates. The Treasury department took action to insert new rules that effectively killed the financial benefits of the deal. …
Why Disagreeing With Your M&A Team Is Good
You may be surprised I’m saying this, but vigorous arguments in your acquisition team can be a good thing. In fact, I would be alarmed if there was never any disagreement over a prospective purchase. Either someone is lying or afraid to speak up, unless your entire team is quite exceptionally in sync. Dissent can …
The LOI Audience: More than Just the Owner
Do you know who will read your letter of intent? Many assume that only the owner of the company you wish to purchase will read the LOI, but often there’s a wider audience. While the owner is your top priority, there are other likely readers of the LOI you need to consider: the board of …
What Is Synergy?
When speaking about mergers and acquisitions you often hear the word “synergy” used to explain the rationale of a deal. Here are just a few examples from recent headlines: “The Renault-Nissan carmaking alliance expects to generate 5.5 billion euros ($6 billion) of synergies in 2018.” “[Sysco] said it believed it could achieve $600 million in …
Survey Shows Middle Market Companies More Likely to Pursue M&A in 2016
Capstone’s survey of middle market executives shows 53% likely to pursue mergers and acquisitions in 2016 compared to 41% when last surveyed. Capstone surveyed middle market executives from multiple industries on their growth and M&A experience in 2015 and their outlook for 2016. The survey was conducted in December 2015, and followed a previous survey in 2014. …
10 Signs You Should Walk Away from a Deal
Do you know when to walk away from a transaction? After all that hard work putting together an acquisition —not to mention the costs in both time and money—it might seem unthinkable to give up on a deal. But you should be on the lookout for these 10 warning signs during the transaction process. They may …
DSW Uses Targeted Acquisition to Expand Online and Abroad
Reflecting the growth of ecommerce, shoe retailer DSW will acquire Ebuys, Inc., the company announced on February 17. At $62 million, the acquisition may seem tiny compared to such newsmakers as Sysco’s $3.1 billion deal to acquire Brakes Group or IBM’s $2.6 billion deal to acquire Truven Health Analytics. But there are opportunities to learn …
Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Just the Internet for Information
In today’s internet age it seems like information is widely and almost instantaneously available. Just open up a web browser and type your search into Google and thousands of hits show up in less than a second. But how much of that information is accurate? Precise data is critical to every business decision, especially when …
