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M&A - During which phases are consultants part of?

Dear community

I would like to know in which phases of an M&A deal consultants are involved in:

  1. M&A Strategy
  2. Target Screening
  3. Due Dilligence
  4. Execution
  5. PMI

And if they are involved in all, I would appreciate 2-3 activities in each step mangement consultants do, as I assume they will not do all the stuff for all phases.

Thx a lot!

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Top answer
on Oct 13, 2023
Ex-BCG Principal | 8+ years consulting experience in SEA | BCG top interviewer & top performer

Hi,

Interesting question. I would say that consultants can be part of every phase you have mentioned, although in different capacities. 

  1. M&A Strategy
    • Developing overall fund strategy
    • Developing the case/story for M&A 
  2. Target Screening
    • Developing thesis and industry/sector focus areas
    • Developing long list of potential targets
  3. Due Dilligence
    • Conduct CDDs or VDDs (majority of the work/time)
    • Conduct ODD and TDD (less of the time)
  4. Execution
    • Consulting firms will not be executing the deal but I have been on projects where I have supported PMO of the process
  5. PMI
    • Synergies identification
    • PMI PMO

Hope this helps to clarify!

Jacopo
Coach
on Mar 22, 2018
Principal BCG, Bain and A.T. Kearney / 200+ real interviews

Hi,

I agree with everything that has been written: consultants mainly intervene on due diligences, PMI and M&A strategy.

From a different point of view, when looking at M&A service offering, consulting firms generally offer the following:

  • Acquirer and Vendor Due Diligence: focus on market, competitors, target company, synergies assessment (for info, VDD are usually longer as more emphasis is given to business model and market analysis)
  • PMI (pre and post merger integration): focusing on merger management, value capture, merger enablement
  • Post-deal diagnosis: can focus on i) assessment of opportunities ii) first XXX days plan iii) business case and implementation roadmap
  • Divestiture management: (e.g. separation strategy, operational planning & realignment,...)

Hope this helps,

Jacopo

Vlad
Coach
on Mar 17, 2018
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

The most common are:

  1. Due Diligence (Assessing the market, competitors and the company. Doing the valuation)
  2. M&A Strategy (Calculating synergies, setting the objectives for different departments)
  3. PMI (usually on a higher level like implementation strategy and PMO. Long implementation initiatives are usually executed by cheaper consultancies)

They don't perform the deal execution and rarely they do target screening.

Best!

Deleted
Coach
on Mar 17, 2018
NOT AVAILABLE

Hey,

Consultants can do projects across all, except for your point 4: we don’t take part in the actual negotiations/the deal itself, that’s only a task for the companies and often to the investment banks.

Best

Bruno

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