SERVICE
Mergers & Acquisitions
Better deals and faster integrations, from target screening to the last saving booked.
Average delivery against announced cost savings
Transactions supported since 2009
Typical commercial due diligence
OVERVIEW
Deal strategy, commercial and operational due diligence, merger integration and carve-outs for corporate acquirers and the boards that approve their deals.
Most acquisitions are justified on the savings and growth the combination will create, and many fail to deliver them. The reasons are rarely mysterious. Diligence accepted the seller's numbers. Savings were estimated top-down with no plan behind them. Integration started after closing, when the best people had already begun to leave.
Our M&A practice works across the deal so that the assumptions in the valuation are the same ones the integration team is held to. We test the target's market and plan with primary research, build cost and revenue estimates bottom-up, and start integration planning before signing.
After closing, we run the integration office alongside your team: day-one readiness, leadership appointments, the first hundred days and savings tracking until the savings are visible in the budget. On carve-outs, we design the standalone business and the separation so both sides keep operating without interruption.
QUESTIONS WE ANSWER
What clients bring to this practice
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WHAT WE DO
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M&A strategy and screening
A clear acquisition thesis and a ranked list of targets, so the deal team spends time on companies that fit the strategy.
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Commercial due diligence
An independent view of the target's market, customers and plan, based on primary interviews and delivered within a deal timetable.
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Operational due diligence
Bottom-up estimates of cost savings and one-off costs, so the price you pay reflects the value you can capture.
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Integration planning and management
Day-one readiness, the integration office and the first hundred days, run to a plan that protects the business while it changes.
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Savings capture
Savings and revenue opportunities tracked to named owners and budget lines until they show up in the accounts.
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Carve-outs and divestitures
Separation planning, transitional service agreements and standalone cost design for businesses being sold or spun off.
INDUSTRIES
Where this practice works most often
Do you work for private equity as well as corporates?
Our M&A work is mainly for corporate acquirers and sellers. We support private equity owners on operational improvement in portfolio companies.
Can you work within a tight deal timetable?
Yes. Commercial due diligence typically takes three to four weeks, and we can deliver a red-flag view in ten days.
When should integration planning start?
As soon as the deal is likely. The best integrations have a day-one plan and an integration leader in place before signing.
Do you handle the people side of integration?
Yes, together with our People & Organization practice, covering leadership selection, organization design, retention and culture.
Webinar: scenario planning for the 2027 board calendar
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Event
Elena Marsh and Priya Raman
A one-hour online briefing for directors and executives on building scenarios, triggers and prepared moves into the board's regular cycle.
Scenario planning that boards will actually use
scenario-planning-for-boards
Article
Elena Marsh and Thomas Reid
Most board scenario exercises produce a thick report and no decisions. A lighter approach, tied to triggers and pre-agreed moves, makes them useful.
Making cost savings last: a breakfast roundtable for CFOs
making-cost-savings-last-roundtable
Event
David Okafor and Hannah Cole
A closed-door breakfast in London for finance leaders planning their next cost program, built on the findings of The CFO Cost Agenda 2026.
Operations AI Benchmark 2026: from pilots to the P&L
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Report
Marcus Lindqvist and Priya Raman
How 286 operations leaders are using AI in maintenance, planning and quality, how much of it reaches production, and what the companies seeing returns do differently.
Zero-based organization design, done properly
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Article
Hannah Cole
Designing an organization from a blank page sounds radical. Done well, it is the most practical way to remove layers and duplication without starting a political war.
The first 100 days after a merger
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Article
Lukas Brenner and Amara Nwosu
The first hundred days after closing set the pace for everything that follows. What to settle before day one, what to do quickly, and what to leave alone.
The CFO Cost Agenda 2026: why savings fade and what keeps them
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Report
Thomas Reid and David Okafor
A survey of 412 chief financial officers on cost programs, how much of the savings survive, and the practices that separate durable results from temporary ones.
Making AI pay back in operations, not in pilots
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Article
Marcus Lindqvist and Kenji Watanabe
Most operations AI never leaves the pilot stage. The few use cases that pay back share a set of traits that have little to do with the model itself.
Pricing power after the inflation years
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Article
Elena Marsh and Priya Raman
Companies raised prices faster than costs between 2021 and 2024. Customers remember. How to set prices now that the cover of general inflation is gone.
Why cost programs fail in year two
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Article
David Okafor and Thomas Reid
Most cost programs hit their first-year targets. The savings disappear in the second year, for reasons that are predictable and largely avoidable.