Series: M&A software solutions – delivering the value Part 1 of 6: The Call for Change Inorganic growth remains a key driver to business success. However, as its importance increases, so too do the challenges of delivering value. Private Equity reach in M&A continues to expand, and the connected marketplace is making the world smaller. … Read more
Introduction: Located in North Carolina, CREO, Inc. is an innovative management consulting firm that provides expertise throughout the M&A process to companies engaging in inorganic growth. CREO is led by Susan Acker-Walsh, who is both co-founder and CEO. Acker-Walsh herself boasts a 35 year background in Corporate Development, leadership, and transactions related work. Though the … Read more
Introduction: Virtual data rooms (VDRs) gained popularity around 2001 and have become an increasingly popular tool for mergers and acquisitions. In fact, every day hundreds of people search for VDRs via the internet. Here is the problem though when it comes to M&A and virtual data rooms: while they have transformed the ability to secure … Read more
In a recent blog post, we covered current trends and best practices for target scoring (a.k.a. deal scoring) — the process that provides programmatic serial acquirers with a methodical way to manage their pipeline of opportunities and rate potential targets against custom criteria. Corporate development teams need to constantly organize opportunities, sorting by deal hypothesis and using … Read more
Programmatic deal sourcing starts with determining what you want to acquire. That is often easier said than done. Different stakeholders have various urgent strategic priorities, attractive target companies, views about market changes, and other inputs that all make compelling arguments towards going in different directions. To bring clarity to the M&A Program (and everyone on the … Read more
McKinsey’s study of 2,000 US public companies over 20 years showed that the shareholder value of companies relying on a Programmatic M&A approach performed better than comparable companies relying on Opportunistic Deals, big-bang Mega Deals or an Organic approach (doing little to no M&A at all). Programmatic M&A involves following a disciplined approach to making many similar, smaller deals that accrue to … Read more
Introduction: Picture this: you are an acquirer feeling pretty confident about your next target, but before moving forward, you bring in a security expert to view the deal from a security lens. Turns out the corporate headquarters is an abandoned barn on a large remote piece of land…yikes. Suspicious to say the least. This anecdote … Read more
Introduction: As Corporate Global Executive and writer Pearl Zhu says, “Holistic Thinking is a combination of analysis, systems thinking, and critical thinking.” However, as Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activity continues to ramp up post-Covid, stakeholders’ and practitioners’ excitement for M&A has the potential to cloud the thoughtful analysis and overall strategy that should drive deals. … Read more