Substance of Critical Initiatives - Case Study

Managing a major acquisition integration

Following a major acquisition, we were retained by our client to assist with the management of the integration process. In addition to the complexities of effecting the integration, the requirement was to assist with the management of a considerable integration budget and the achievement of substantial synergy savings in line with the scale of the acquisition.

We recommended the formation of an Integration Team consisting of the key senior managers who would have to make the acquisition a success. Working closely with the Managing Director, we assisted in the setting up and operation of the Team which included representatives of both the acquiring and acquired companies. One of the first issues we helped the company come to terms with was that the membership of the Team needed to be wider than just the existing Directors. Hitherto the company had tended to operate in a hierarchical way and was not in the habit of routinely involving key line managers in top level decision making. In addition we worked with the members of the Integration Team to develop a comprehensive integration plan.

Throughout the integration process, we monitored achievement against the integration plan and financial targets. We made certain that all of the key players involved, while concentrating on achievements within their own areas, remained fully aware of inter-relationships with other aspects of the integration and were kept regularly informed of overall progress and emerging issues. We ensured that the need to meet the financial targets - the basis on which the original purchase price had been justified - was kept firmly in focus.

The physical integration and associated staff reductions stemming from the combination of facilities were completed in one third of the time allowed for in the original acquisition proposal without ‘industrial relations’ problems. At the same time the total integration costs were held below budget and the targeted synergy savings were achieved. Our client was so pleased with the success of the integration effort that we were engaged to apply the same programme management approach to a number of ‘second phase’ strategic and integration initiatives building on the newly expanded capabilities of the combined operation.