Looking To Grow Your Business Through Acquisition

Seven Questions To Ask Pre Acquisition

1. Why do I really want it – vanity / sanity
2. Have I done my sums – overall it will inevitably cost significantly more than expected
3. Does it make financial sense
4. Can I live with the outcomes – 50% are unsuccessful
5. Do I have a plan – Many businesses don’t have a clear strategic plan for their core business let alone an acquisition
6. How will it fit in – see point 6
7. How long will it take – Guess what it will take longer than expected (and consume a lot of time)

Growth Acquisition Strategies

• Acquisition will allow the existing business to improve its performance
• Acquisition will consolidate the industry and remove capacity
• Acquisition will accelerate market access
• Acquisition will allow you to acquire skills or technology (as opposed to doing your own development)
• Acquisition will allow you to pick a winner early
• Roll up – buy lots of little businesses to achieve a consolidation. Difficult as it becomes obvious what your doing so prices start to increase
• Consolidate to improve behaviour – need to get senior players on board
• Transformational merger

Acquiring A Business 7 Questions You Need To Ask

1. Why do you want it – this seems like a simple question but answering it truthfully will allow you to make sure that you are not just looking for a vanity purchase and have completely identified the rationale for the purchase
2. Have you done your sums – so many acquisitions start with the desire to increase the overall value of teh organisation. So if we are a £20 million company purchasing a £5 million pound company grows our business by 25% . If only it was that simple it is critical that detailed analysis is completed to see if the acquisition will actually help in your growth
3. Will it make financial returns – this links closely to point 2 in terms of will you be able to do things as a result of the business that will mean you will grow more profitably and faster than if you just grew organically
4. Can you live with any outcome – if your acquisition is successful are you prepared for the pain and heartache that may follow the purchase
5. Do you have a plan – so 100 days after acquiring the business are you absolutely certain where / how you will have progressed. A detailed plan of how you plan to manage the acquisition is a necessity
6. How will it be fitted in – will the acquisition be integrated into existing operations or will it remain a standalone independent operation. In most cases elements of integration are required to allow for cost savings etc
7. How long will you have to wait for benefit. It could be that you are simply acquiring in order to gain a customer list at which point you will transfer customers into the core activities. If you are buying IPR it could be many years before you see a return on investment

Only 50% of acquisitions are successful

With only a 50% success rate on acquisitions there are 4 points to consider

1. 1. Follow the money
   2. Resolve any people or power issues “Fast”
   3. Ensure that the deal structure doesn’t impact on change
   4. Make sure that due diligence goes well beyond just the financial issues