Danny A. Davis, Consulting Partner of DD Consulting, a London-based M&A consultancy, talks about how companies entering into M&A deals should work out their strategy and planning in advance to enjoy the fruits of synergy and integration
As a Programme Director at Henley Business School for M&A, Davis is always in demand as guest speaker at international seminars on strategy and M&A. He has also recently written a book – M&A Integration: How To Do It. Planning and Delivering M&A Integration For Business Success – easily available on Amazon. What are the stages of a successful integration? How do you achieve the announced synergies? When do you start planning the programme? Who needs to be involved and when? Davis’s book not only offers solutions to these questions but also covers new ground as well. It’s a very practical and useful book from a man who has helped plan and run some of the largest mergers and separations in the world, including the European side of the BP-Castrol merger, which had 180 projects across 30 countries.
In an exclusive interview with Business & Economy, Davis expounds on the dynamics that shape M&A deals in today’s world and the tools and techniques for ensuring their eventual success. He says integration issues should be thought through and planned well before the deal is agreed. But even a well-intentioned acquisition can go awry if the management fails to work around the challenges needed to successfully deliver integration projects and bring about transformative change. As a strategy consultant who has been involved with integration for two decades, Davis says that apart from strategy and planning corporate functions such as HR, finance, IT, sales and marketing, supply chain, etc. also play an important role in determining the outcome of M&As. Edited excerpts from an interview:
B&E: How do you think the global M&A market is doing at present?
Danny A. Davis (DAD): The global market is doing well, and picking up. The types of deals have changed over the last few years. Deals are now smaller and will continue to be remain small in comparison to the big acquisitions we saw in the past.
B&E: What is your outlook for the future of M&As?
DAD: M&As will continue to improve and increase. We will see them happen more often and in different geographies unlike in the past when they took place mostly in the West and Europe.
B&E: Do you think the current plight of Europe could help catalyse more M&As in the days ahead?
DAD: Yes. A downturn in an area leads to opportunities. There are many companies in Europe, which have a good underlying base, management and product. However, for various reasons, they are struggling. The purchase of struggling companies or assets will prove very profitable in the long term. The issue is about deciding which companies are good and will stay afloat and which are poorly managed and will go under after the purchase. Clearly, some good due diligence will be needed. Also prospective buyers need to have a very strong integration plan to ensure that a currently failing business is turned around. I recently managed a turnaround deal for a FTSE 100 client. The trick is to move rapidly and deliver substantially faster than is normally done during integrations.
As a Programme Director at Henley Business School for M&A, Davis is always in demand as guest speaker at international seminars on strategy and M&A. He has also recently written a book – M&A Integration: How To Do It. Planning and Delivering M&A Integration For Business Success – easily available on Amazon. What are the stages of a successful integration? How do you achieve the announced synergies? When do you start planning the programme? Who needs to be involved and when? Davis’s book not only offers solutions to these questions but also covers new ground as well. It’s a very practical and useful book from a man who has helped plan and run some of the largest mergers and separations in the world, including the European side of the BP-Castrol merger, which had 180 projects across 30 countries.
In an exclusive interview with Business & Economy, Davis expounds on the dynamics that shape M&A deals in today’s world and the tools and techniques for ensuring their eventual success. He says integration issues should be thought through and planned well before the deal is agreed. But even a well-intentioned acquisition can go awry if the management fails to work around the challenges needed to successfully deliver integration projects and bring about transformative change. As a strategy consultant who has been involved with integration for two decades, Davis says that apart from strategy and planning corporate functions such as HR, finance, IT, sales and marketing, supply chain, etc. also play an important role in determining the outcome of M&As. Edited excerpts from an interview:
B&E: How do you think the global M&A market is doing at present?
Danny A. Davis (DAD): The global market is doing well, and picking up. The types of deals have changed over the last few years. Deals are now smaller and will continue to be remain small in comparison to the big acquisitions we saw in the past.
B&E: What is your outlook for the future of M&As?
DAD: M&As will continue to improve and increase. We will see them happen more often and in different geographies unlike in the past when they took place mostly in the West and Europe.
B&E: Do you think the current plight of Europe could help catalyse more M&As in the days ahead?
DAD: Yes. A downturn in an area leads to opportunities. There are many companies in Europe, which have a good underlying base, management and product. However, for various reasons, they are struggling. The purchase of struggling companies or assets will prove very profitable in the long term. The issue is about deciding which companies are good and will stay afloat and which are poorly managed and will go under after the purchase. Clearly, some good due diligence will be needed. Also prospective buyers need to have a very strong integration plan to ensure that a currently failing business is turned around. I recently managed a turnaround deal for a FTSE 100 client. The trick is to move rapidly and deliver substantially faster than is normally done during integrations.
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