The following is an excerpt from the article “7 Strategies for Smooth M&A Communication”, by Michele Weldon, originally found on iabc.com.
7 Strategies for Smooth M&A Communication
Exhilarating—and exhausting. These two words capture how some describe communications during mergers and acquisitions. Messaging to stakeholders, adhering to legal restrictions and positioning for both friendly and hostile deals require consistency amid the turbulence and insecurity of this high-stakes landscape that risks the loss not just of financial value, but also reputations, careers, brand integrity, livelihoods and customers.
Since 2000, more than 790,000 transactions have been announced worldwide with a known value of US$57 trillion, according to the Institute of Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances. The average merger size is US$384.8 million, the second-highest total value on record, according to Mergermarket. A healthy second-quarter 2019 rise in U.S. mergers is perhaps why 79% of respondents expect the number of deals in the next year to increase, according to Deloitte’s “The State of The Deal: M & A Trends 2019.”
Done well, communication assuages the fears of investors, customers and employees without backlash and a surrender to the rumor mill. Here are seven tips from the pros on M&A communication best practices to enlist trust from stakeholders with transparency and stability, hopefully resulting in full team integration.
If you don’t know, say so
“Not communicating is far worse than communicating that ‘you don’t know yet,’” advises Christophe Van Gampelaere, partner at Global PMI Partners in Benelux, a West Europe economic union. “Align messages across all stakeholders; I do this with a communication matrix, clarifying the communication channel, timing, audience, messages, etc.” says Van Gampelaere, contributing author to Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions and Mergers & Acquisitions, A Practitioner’s Guide to Successful Deals, who has worked on more than 50 mergers and acquisitions deals since 2006.
Post-Merger Management
Value Creation in M&A Integration Projects
This book pools the current know-how, and closes important knowledge gaps, to offer hands-on advice and practical answers to the many ‘how to’ questions relating to merger implementation. It also explains the broader M&A context in which integration projects are rooted, providing a crucially important understanding of how to assess the chances of realizing synergy potential and evaluate integration risks. The book demonstrates how integration can succeed and provides a candid overview of everything that needs to be done to navigate one of the most challenging areas of entrepreneurial activity.
In today’s economy, it is no longer feasible to grow by organic means alone so business leaders must consider Mergers or Acquisitions as a growth strategy. Done properly, a merger or acquisition can result in significant value creation, creating growth, operational synergies and efficiencies that lead collectively to competitive advantage. This webinar presentation outlines real world case studies to demonstrate how others have used M&A as a low risk growth strategy.
A portrait of what happens in the mind and in the heart of the people who face a Merger, Acquisition, Integration, Carve out. A collection of portraits, drawn without any mask by a management consultant after many years on the field. A collection of cases and examples to help you switch
from surviving an M&A to riding an M&A.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
