In many M&A transactions, there are opportunities to improve the cash position in the post-closing period in addition to operational performance improvement/restructuring plans. Besides the more complex equity financing or corporate bonds, there are other less complicated opportunities. You can use this additional liquidity to finance your growth plans, restructuring projects, or to refinance debt. Here are some examples from my past M&A transactions that will help you improve the liquidity in your next M&A deal.

The legal due diligence process is one of the fundamental elements of the overall due diligence process. The reason is that every aspect of a company has at least some legal touchpoint. Whether you talk about employees or analyze assets and liabilities on the balance sheet, there is a legal topic that you need to address in the due diligence. Here are some of my M&A tips to help you with your next legal due diligence.

After all of your work on the M&A pipeline development, ranking the targets on a scorecard, initial discussions, LOI/term sheets, and due diligence, it is time to finalize the negotiations and close the deal. Negotiation is an art and skill you can learn. There are many good books and seminars that help you with that, but here are a few tips that I found valuable and practical during my negotiations.

The main focus of the financial due diligence is on the facets of the accounting approach (i.e., accounting standards and policies), cash management (treasury), and the financial performance of the company. The tax due diligence is a separate topic. Here are some tips to help you in your next M&A deal.

The due diligence process includes different teams for specific topics. Besides the legal due diligence, one of the technically more complicated topics is the tax due diligence because every country (and sometimes region) has different tax rules. As a CFO and M&A deal manager, I have worked in all of my M&A transactions with external accounting firms and internal tax experts on those topics. Here are some examples that will help you with your next tax due diligence.

Mergers and acquisitions can be complicated, but there are best practices for success. The first step in an M&A process is to develop an M&A target pipeline and use qualitative and quantitative elements to assess the targets. Investment banks and advisors can help you to expand your M&A target pipeline. Based on your company's overall strategy and your M&A approach, you can rank the targets with the help of an M&A target pipeline scorecard. Here are a few tips that will help you with those topics. You can download a simple Excel template for the M&A target scorecard at the end of the article.

In a due diligence process, you analyze the target company and try to understand whether buying the company will add value to your business. As part of the process, the commercial due diligence digs into the details of the competitive market position and other aspects of marketing and sales. Here are some best practice tips that will help you in your next M&A transaction.

Most M&A transactions don't add value. You can read many different statistics that show it. M&A deals can be difficult, but by following the right approach, you can add tremendous value. The focus of my M&A Playbook is to guide you through the big topics and best practices to make M&A transactions successful; however, it is also worthwhile to discuss what can go wrong.

There is one crucial success factor in mergers and acquisitions that you cannot find in textbooks or university courses, but it makes a big difference: Relationship building between the acquirer and seller. In M&A literature and articles, the focus is on analyzing the motivations, business cases, negotiations, and integrations, but it stops there. However, building a relationship between the parties makes everything easier during the M&A process. Here are some relationship-building examples to help you with your next M&A project.

There are many reasons why companies think about mergers and acquisitions to increase the company value, but the primary motivation why M&A makes sense is that you can accelerate the time to market. When you believe that now (or soon) is the right time to launch a product or service in a specific area to potential clients, then M&A is a powerful tool to achieve this quickly. Here are a few tips on how you can analyze the time-to-market effect. Have fun with this article.

A sell-side transaction is a mergers and acquisitions process where you sell a business unit or company. The concept is similar in many aspects to buying a company, i.e., a buy-side deal; however, there are also significant differences. Some examples of specific sell-side issues are the timing of sharing information and preparing the Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM). Here are a few tips from my transactions that will make it easier for you to be successful in the next sale of a business unit or entity. Have fun with it.

Due diligence, in a sentence, is the process of collecting and analyzing information from the M&A target company. It is a crucial step in the mergers and acquisitions process but can sometimes be complex and intimidating. There are many websites where you can download a due diligence checklist, but they are often more textbook-based and theoretical. Here are some real-life examples from my M&A transactions that will help you make your next due diligence successful. You can download a free due diligence budget template at the end of the article. Have fun with it.

Mergers and acquisitions can be complex and challenging. Many people are involved in M&A transactions, lawyers sometimes develop complicated legal and tax structures, and the financial terms and calculations are another issue. To make it easier for you, here is a brief introduction to some of the M&A terms. Have fun!

Understanding mergers and acquisitions is difficult because an M&A transaction can be complex, lengthy, and include many people. Nevertheless, you usually follow five steps from the beginning to the end in the M&A process map. Like with other stage-gate techniques, having a no-go decision that stops the project earlier is not unusual. Not all M&A transactions help you achieve your goals. Saying "No" to a target is sometimes the better decision. Have fun reading more about M&A process tips from my transactions.

After you acquire another company, it is crucial to start as soon as possible with the alignment of the reporting. This is sometimes difficult because reporting systems and types of management reporting can be very different between the companies. The integration begins with the accounting standards, continues with the reporting of actuals with a comparison and variance analysis to plans, and also includes forecasting and budgeting. Have fun reading some tips from my M&A transactions.

Are we ready for M&A? This is the question that CEOs often ask before the company starts with M&A activities. The M&A readiness assessment is not easy and depends on the specific reasons and goals of your company that you want to achieve, but there are a few topics you can check to see whether your company is prepared for an M&A transaction. Have fun with my article with tips for an M&A readiness checklist.

There are different reasons for M&A transactions, but often the acquirer believes that they can improve the financial performance of the target company. To achieve those results, companies develop a business case that includes operational and financial improvements. Here are a few tips from my M&A projects that will help you to successfully calculate and implement those plans.

Cash is King - This is a general rule in financial management and also applies to the post-merger phase of an M&A transaction. Understanding the details of the target company's cash flow, implementing tools for better cash flow forecasting, and using synergies are critical to successfully integrating cash flow management. Have fun reading more in this article about tips from my M&A transactions.

Post-merger integration is a crucial time in the M&A process. It makes M&A transactions successful or not. One of the important topics for synergies is the purchasing function. Companies can achieve savings of 5% or more in their annual spending if they approach it correctly. Use the power of higher volumes, improve supplier selection and relationship management, utilize economies of scale to invest in the IT infrastructure, and find the best negotiators. You can make it work whether you have a centralized or decentralized organizational structure. Have fun reading more about those topics in my article.

There will be change. That’s for sure in the post-merger period of an M&A deal. The better we manage those changes, the more successful the integration will be. Change management is a crucial element in this integration. Focus on the reasons for the change, include people from different areas and companies, and focus on the opportunities. You will not only make the integration successful, but you will also have created an approach that works in the future when you need to implement other changes. Have fun reading my article with more ideas on how you can make change management successful.