Integration Planning

Many acquisitions fail simply because of little or no integration planning.  An understanding of how the acquired business will mesh with the existing one is critical to the ongoing productivity of both.

Integration planning involves all aspects of business, and a plan of how the acquired business will be integrated will greatly reduce the risk of financial loss.  Planning should immediately focus on any areas involving employees and customers to quickly minimize the impact of the acquisition.  This might include HR, information systems, organizational reporting structure, sales & marketing, and customer support functions. It’s also recommended that a five year business plan for the acquired company be developed prior to closing. We believe key executives from the seller’s company should contribute in the planning process with their operating insight, further minimizing acquisition risk.

Due Diligence

Once the Letter of Intent is fully executed, a due diligence review of the target company is conducted.  Here we will play a critical role in examining financial and operational information received from the acquisition target company to determine the correctness of previous information provided to us, and to look for any signs of potential risk and concern to our buyer client.  Selection of items to review and examine is usually dictated by a customized checklist tailored to the business and its industry.
Due Diligence Outline