Integration Planning - Case Study

Planning the integration of a major acquisition

Our client, one of the major companies in the UK waste industry, was on the point of completing a major acquisition and approached us to help with the planning of the integration process. The scale of the acquisition was considerable, involving the expenditure of around £400 million on the purchase of a competitor and the formation of a combined company some 60% larger than hitherto.

We worked with each of the senior managers who would be responsible for running the combined company to develop a detailed integration plan. For each area of the business we helped the managers to articulate how the combined operation would function once steady state had been reached post integration, including the redesigned organisation structure and management processes, and to plan the steps necessary to achieve this. We also helped the company to plan key company-wide initiatives that would be needed to make the overall integration a success. Such initiatives included, for instance, the development of an employee communications plan and how the HR issues would be handled during the transition, including policies relating to relocations and terminations and the provision of retention bonuses for terminating staff who were prepared to continue their employment until an appropriate time for their departure.

The total plan was brought together to form a comprehensive integration plan that was used to guide the integration process. The plan enabled the total programme to be understood and controlled, and each senior manager was responsible for their own particular section of the overall plan. In addition the plan was designed to be flexible and not ‘cast in stone’, recognising that during the course of implementation things would be likely to change.

The plan and the continual process of revision stood the test of time and guided the successful completion of the integration programme well within the original estimates of time and cost. Our client was so pleased with the success of the planning process that we were asked to work with the company on a second major acquisition, with involvement from the earliest stages so as to facilitate a seamless transition from due diligence to post-acquisition integration.