Get your integration in order with our practical post-acquisition checklist

Post-deal integration, done right. Keep integration activities front of mind as you complete earlier phases of the deal.

A post-deal integration checklist is a list of all the requirements that need to be addressed as part of the integration process between two business entities, following a merger or acquisition (M&A). It is used to help the newly-formed team map out the integration of all the different aspects of the individual businesses and align on objectives and strategy moving forward. 

We’ve partnered with Henry McNeill, a leading expert in integration, to develop the post-acquisition and post-merger integration checklist - the first of its kind to clearly identify and digitize those topics and workstreams to fully integrate a newly acquired entity.

Historically, legacy Data Rooms have failed to support the integration stage of an M&A transaction. However, corporates agree that the vast majority of value realized through M&A is added through the integration process, after the deal is signed. They also agree that this is by far the hardest part of any acquisition. A post-deal integration template they can use and adapt is a major advantage.

Post-deal integration is a critical part of realizing value in an acquisition. However, with the hustle and chaos of due diligence, integration is often improperly planned out before the deal is closed, leading to risk and unrealized opportunities.

To eliminate major risks and realize value in your M&A deal, due diligence must be complemented with an integration plan. A full and complete integration has its own lifecycle alongside the deal, with planning commencing the moment it’s ascertained that the target is likely to pull through the acquisition process.

A solid integration strategy will demonstrate how the synergies being delivered will accelerate business value more quickly than if the businesses had remained separate.

A synergy increases the value of a merged business over and above the combined value of the original standalone entities. Synergies may arise as a result of:

Cost savings: Shared IT, supply chain efficiencies, improved sales and marketing with better distribution, rationalization of back office

Revenue upsides: New products / markets / geography

Financial: The combined company may have better capital and cash flow to attract preferential treatment for loans etc.

The willingness of the people to accept change

A misunderstanding or misdiagnosis of cultural challenges

They stall when the going gets complex due to lack of skilled and dedicated resources

The project is de-prioritized due to competing business priorities

Projected revenue is not being realized

Integration of different technology platforms

Synergies are unrealistic or there’s no business ownership to deliver them

Insufficient due diligence

To connect valuable due diligence findings with your integration project, you need to follow a framework and start as early as possible. If you’ve already acquired a business but remain unintegrated or partially integrated, establishing an integration strategy can still be hugely valuable in getting the process back on track.

Having this framework laid out will give you and your team the confidence your required outcome will be achieved with fewer delays, decreased risks and more coherent communication and execution.

VMWare’s Corporate Development team has been able to reduce their time from LOI to close to 21 days, all by standardizing on Ansarada. They currently run between 6-10 strategic acquisitions every year.

By standardizing and centralizing all processes using the Ansarada Platform, the team is enabled to mitigate risk, drive decision making and to move with speed, clarity and certainty on acquisitions – from day one all the way through to a successful integration.

Using Ansarada’s technology, VMware runs multiple processes simultaneously across a single purpose-built platform, giving them a single source of truth for all data in real-time and allowing them to closely monitor progress across all stages of the deal lifecycle.

“For us, it’s having this ‘hub’ for an M&A transaction where all the data is residing in Ansarada so you can have workflow possibilities, help people manage workflow automation and make sure everything gets done, everything has been reviewed,” said John Mills, Associate General Counsel and Senior Director of M&A and Investments.