Based on our analysis and years of experience with M&A-related projects across a wide range of industries and geographies—our mergers and acquisitions experts believe that the key to successful M&A is a repeatable model; one that companies can return to over and over again to reap substantial rewards.

The virtuous cycle for M&A begins by building a strong M&A capability that forms the foundation for the success of the model’s five key steps:

Corporate strategy and acquisition strategy: Develop a clearly articulated strategy and an M&A plan that reinforces that strategy.

• Deal thesis: Invest with a thesis. Successful deals are guided by a meaningful deal thesis that is tied to a firm’s growth strategy and that spells out how the deal will add value both to the target and acquiring company.
• Strategic due diligence: Ask and answer the big questions. The best acquirers investigate targets with a nose for what’s really important, identifying the key sources of ongoing value and sniffing out any “perfumed pigs” buffed up for sale. A frequent acquirer knows exactly where it can add value and is therefore able to set its own price—and to walk away if the price isn’t right.
• Merger integration planning: Integrate where it matters. No two integration’s are the same, and companies must carefully consider aspects from culture to IT in order to realize the full value of the deal.
• Merger integration execution: Nail the short list of critical actions. Merging two companies requires rigorous follow-through on a long list of integration tasks, large and small. Doing both is hard. Part of the answer lies in a few, powerful guiding principles: tailor the integration thesis to the deal thesis; integrate where it matters; and act with deliberate speed.

Angstrom’s mergers and acquisitions consultants help companies build and execute on their own repeatable models for M&A. We also apply our expertise to guide companies and management teams that are deciding where to grow and shed through joint ventures and alliances or divestitures and separations.

Our work is continually informed by the latest M&A analyses and insights which ensure that our teams and clients have access to information and conclusions about how the best acquirers succeed.

Bain’s work with private equity does not stop with buyout funds. We work across fund types, including debt, infrastructure, real estate and hedge funds. We also work for many of the most prominent institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, endowments and family investment offices.