Post-Merger and Acquisition Integration

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So you've spotted the opportunity, you've done your Due Diligence and either you are already, or you are about to become, financially and legally joined at the hip.

M&A's hold great promise for increasing shareholder value, productivity and growth. At first face there are substantial financial gains to be made.

If only there wasn't an uncomfortable finding lurking in the corporate woods: 2/3 of all Mergers and Acquisitions fail to realise the promised benefits.

And there are at least 3 reasons for this:

• A failure to carry out a rigorous Due Diligence, leading to discovery of financial holes when it is too late
• A lack of clarity on Post Merger Vision and Strategy, which results in post D-Day chaos, melt-down and painfully slow integration
• A lack of Poster-Merger Integration: a merged workforce that is not working as a new team in the new reality but instead, has become wrapped up in the turmoil and debris of post-merger emotional fall-out
• So considering the enormous mountain of work you have to get through in order to clinch the deal, how can you also plan for successful post-merger integration? How would you go about preventing common pitfalls and failure?

The best solution lies in prevention of course: in timely and structured preparation and planning, something OPDC can make an expert contribute to. Failing that, the sooner you can address the post-merger troubles, the better. And we can also help you with that.

Due Diligence
We hope you are not thinking of commissioning Organisational Development Consultants to help you with your Due Diligence. If you are, stop right there and- instead- find yourself a good firm of accountants to pour over all the numbers, margins, outstanding debts, current contracts, pipeline and assets, and then a good firm of lawyers!

Post-Merger Vision and Strategy
We've written about strategy elsewhere on this site so let's get into the people integration stuff.

Post Merger and Acquisition Integration
The Due Diligence we have in mind for this piece is your HR Due Diligence, the assessment of organisational culture differences, workforce capability, management potential and a raft of other ‘people data'. Using this data we can offer you integration that is successful and fast.

What we offer
We help management teams to pull together a 100-day post merger integration plan, which will serve to give direction and achieve speedy integration. The methodology we use makes integration everybody's business. This is what makes things happen fast. The OPDC Whole Systems approach to integration will relieve pressure on the few while:

• Increasing employee participation and ownership
• Enhancing employee understanding of the changes afoot
• Producing high levels of energy right through the organisation
• Accelerating the integration process
• Have a look at our explanation of Whole Systems Working if you would like to know more!

Through facilitated large group and small group meetings, building new teams, developing change managers, our accelerated change tools and frameworks and our ability to navigate people through conflict and differences towards consensus and agreement, we support organisations in getting the workforce integrated speedily and effectively.

Maybe it is only now that the honeymoon is over, that it has become clear that you need some support in bringing the organisation and its people together or you may not hit those numbers! We can help you turn things around.

Two brief examples of our work

A well-known building firm decided to grow the business through acquisition. After identifying the right target, the senior management team invited OPDC in to help them finalise the business plan to be presented to the Board, as well as plan for the post-merger integration of the business processes, structures, assets and people. The plan was finalised and owned by the extended management team with frequent communication and participation opportunities for the whole workforce, leading to high levels of activity and buy-in.

ZenithOptimedia

We couldn't improve on the customer's voice:

"Zenith and Optimedia were both leading media services companies working with a number of blue-chip advertisers. Due to the consolidation that is happening in our sector, and in order to provide stronger, more focussed resources and solutions, we developed a strategy to bring the two companies together to form a new organisation. Having announced this merger, in December 2002 we decided to bring together our leading CEOs in order to discuss issues relating to positioning and integration. We went through a lengthy search process before we appointed OPDC to work with us. It was our view that they had the best relevant experience to help us tackle the issues of integration that we were facing. We worked closely with Ineke Powell during the preparation of our seminar and she conducted a number of questionnaires and telephone interviews, as well as face-to-face appointments, in order to better understand the specific integration and merger issues. There was obviously some trepidation on our part about how the meeting would evolve. Ineke, however, played an extremely important role in leading a number of the discussions, building a consensual view of the key difficulties and then led individual break-out groups as to how we should position ourselves. Since this meeting, we have made great strides. ZenithOptimedia has become a new force in the media world and is newly positioned as the ROI agency. In support of this, we have an approach, process and tools, which allow us to deliver an improved, competitive advantage based on our Return On Investment philosophy. I was delighted with the contribution that OPDC made and would certainly wish to use them for future events, or indeed recommend them to other companies facing similar complex issues (to our competitors, however, I would say that OPDC are completely useless and a waste of money!)."

Steve King, CEO Global, ZenithOptimedia