DealLawyers.com Blog

This Deloitte study surveyed 500 global executives with cross-border M&A experience.  Despite caution about political instability and the global economy, the study says that the appetite for cross-border deals remains strong.  The study finds that companies are becoming more competent and experienced in cross-border M&A, and are thus able to deliver on their deal objectives.

Here’s an excerpt from the conclusion identifying a handful of best practices that executives & deal members should consider in planning and executing cross-border deals:

– Ensure that the deal thesis and deal objectives drive all phases of the M&A lifecycle, from target selection to due diligence to execution and to integration

– Adapt the deal methodology and playbook to specific deal circumstances to pre-empt global M&A challenges

– Integrate pre-deal due diligence with pre-close planning activities to prevent handoff misses

– Structure the deal so it has the best chance of meeting its objectives — knowing that full integration may not always be the right choice

– Define the overall integration scope, approach, and plan for achieving both Day 1 and end-state goals

– Organize a global integration program that has representation from both acquirer and target around key work streams and regions/countries

– Focus efforts on effectively planning pre- and post-close integration in detail, with dependencies and critical path clearly outlined

– John Jenkins