Post M&A Integration

Post-M&A Advisory

Planning the integration to maximize synergies and increase company value.

What comes after due diligence?
We support you with integration strategy, planning, and hands-on execution.

Finance | Processes | Technology

• We will create a unified chart of accounts, set up reporting, review financial statements, and assess economic and tax implications.
• We will review your duplicate processes and establish standardized process frameworks.
• We will prepare plans for secure system consolidation and data migration with a strong emphasis on cybersecurity.

People | Integration Team

• We will designate responsible persons for each integration phase and engage all levels of management to help build trust among employees in the newly merged organization.
• We will create a unified plan for transferring employment contracts and harmonizing working conditions.
• We will plan short- and long-term recruitment needs, including onboarding processes, and define employee benefits and compensation.
• We will help you identify redundancies and top talent, and support the management of layoffs and severance processes. Together, we will develop a plan and assign accountable parties, whether internal or external.
• We will create training plans, define performance evaluation processes, and help implement HR systems to track individual employee results.
• We will design a new organizational structure.

Communication | Compliance

• We will help you establish clear communication channels and information-sharing mechanisms to ensure maximum transparency in internal communication.
• We will develop a plan for proper communication in case of trade unions or other employee organizations.
• We will propose a system to monitor the progress of integration activities.
• We will help you create a new internal code of conduct that includes corporate principles, rules, guidelines, values, supplier relationships, and company culture.

Post-Merger Integration

An integration strategy after a merger or acquisition focused on long-term value creation.

Key Insights

• Successful acquirers begin integration planning as early as the due diligence phase.
  By Day One, leadership should have a defined integration governance structure and clear workflows.
  A comprehensive 100-day plan must be ready and in motion before Day One.
• Integrating two companies remains one of the most challenging aspects of mergers and acquisitions. More than 70% of integrations fail to realize planned synergies, and therefore, the expected value. Why? Buyers often underestimate the effort required to truly merge companies and don’t allocate enough time to integration planning—resulting in organizations that never fully unite.
• To successfully complete a post-merger or acquisition integration, planning must begin during the due diligence phase—well before deal closure.
• Synergy planning often overlaps with execution by Day One, so both leadership and employees must be prepared to implement the value creation strategy immediately.
• Buyers must carefully consider pre- and post-deal steps. Integration timelines should include milestones for Day One readiness, business continuity, quick wins, a 100-day plan, and long-term initiatives.

Business Continuity & Risk Mitigation

Ensuring business continuity and reducing risk are essential in the early integration phase and must be prioritized. Buyers must assess all financial changes that could affect customer transactions on Day One. It is also crucial to have necessary regulatory approvals in place, ensure core IT systems and infrastructure are operational, and meet all critical financial reporting obligations.

Day One Preparation

By Day One, leadership should have an established integration governance structure and defined workflows.
The company must be prepared to deliver to customers without disruption. The merged company’s plan must be clearly communicated to all employees—only with full understanding can they effectively execute it.
Communication with customers and the broader market is equally critical. Transparent internal and external communication helps mitigate operational and process risks, but this requires thorough preparation. Many integrations lose value because companies underestimate the time required to communicate effectively with all stakeholders.

The Critical First 100 Days

Planning for Day One is time-intensive, but leadership cannot stop there. A comprehensive 100-day plan must be launched before Day One. This phase is critical—it determines whether the transaction will deliver its intended value. Goals for this period should be short-term and achievable. During the 100 days, management should hold initial integration workshops and establish a list of initiatives to complete within one to three months.

The first 100 days are also critical because employees expect changes and are more open to new approaches. Changes implemented during this period are more likely to succeed long-term than those introduced later, when organizations tend to revert to “business as usual.”

During this period, leadership should validate the merged company’s long-term integration plan, finalize key processes, and begin implementing technologies. Early integration phases must be carefully managed across areas such as internal and external communication, change management, legal and regulatory issues, costs, and financial analysis.

Quick wins achieved during the first 100 days should not be confused with long-term integration plans or transformational changes. The goal is to address critical business needs and deliver quick synergies from the merged entity. During this time, departments can begin shaping their future operating models and initiating the transition to the combined state.

Long-Term Value Creation

Long-term optimization initiatives aim to fully realize the synergies and value expected by leadership. Partnering with an experienced Integration Management Office (IMO) from start to finish provides the focus needed to reach long-term optimization goals.

Integration management encompasses the processes, tools, and resources needed to structure and guide efforts to unlock deal value and achieve a better future state. Buyers and top management of the combined entity should define an integration vision from the outset. But a vision alone is not enough—it must be supported by a well-coordinated execution plan translated into real projects within individual departments. Some initiatives may take 2–3 years to fully implement.

Having a well-managed integration strategy from the start means planning for success.