Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
People risks in transactions, if not proactively considered, can have an enormously negative impact on deal value. People are the common denominator in delivering economic value, and it’s too often overlooked and addressed reactively when problems arise.
People expertise. Sustained performance.
In a world characterized by business model disruption, inorganic growth strategies are increasingly critical to success. With investor pressure coming from all sides, the current dynamic deal environment requires a combination of knowhow and effective execution to deliver sustainable value today, tomorrow and well into the future. It also demands a dynamic mergers and acquisitions strategy.
Thanks to our global scale and local footprint, Mercer has the business acumen, deal experience and people expertise to solve your toughest people challenges — we can work anywhere in the world and act at a moment’s notice. We aim to help you maximize value, mitigate risk and moderate costs to capture the full value of your deal.
The diversity of our clients — in terms of size, maturity, industry sector and geographic location — means we can collaborate with all types of organizations to tackle a broad range of issues. Simply put, we know what needs to be done — when, how, why and by whom. We can work with you to manage the most complex deals, streamlining every step of the process to drive growth and help your business soar to new heights.
What makes Mercer different?
years of deal experience
transactions annually
country operations
cross-border transactions
languages
Throughout the lifecycle of the deal
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Strategy and readiness
Investment thesis research
M&A readiness assessment
M&A playbook development
M&A Ready™ training -
Due diligence
Human capital due diligence
Separation diligence
M&A talent insights -
Pre-close planning
Integration planning
Separation planning
Turnaround planning
Project management office
M&A talent insights -
Post-close
Day One readiness
Integration management
Transition service agreement support
Separation management
M&A talent insights
Synergy capture
Successful M&As require integration planning
Driving long-term deal success requires thoughtful and well-executed integration. Building on the findings of due diligence, our approach to integration planning includes:
- Developing a comprehensive integration strategy and roadmap to deliver on the end-state vision for Day One and beyond
- Establishing project-governance principles, including those relating to decision-making, issue escalation and communications
- Understanding and identifying the critical components of the cultures of both organizations, and developing an integration approach that will maintain them
- Outlining a communication and change-management strategy to support the new operating environment
To deliver enhanced deal value, buyers and sellers need workforce expertise combined with real-world, practical and tactical execution experience on a global scale. This is what we provide.
Driving value across all transaction types
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Mergers and acquisitions (M&As)In a world characterized by business model disruption, inorganic growth strategies are increasingly critical to success. We have the business acumen, deal experience and people expertise to solve your toughest M&A challenges. We can act at a moment’s notice.
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DivestituresDivestitures can unlock hidden shareholder value and generate cash to fund growth and innovation. Paying close attention to workforce risks can maximize sale price, increase speed of sale and enhance profitability.
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Restructurings and turnaroundsSuccessful turnarounds require both financial restructuring and planned operational recovery. Aligning human capital strategy with strategic objectives is crucial for success.
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Joint ventures and strategic alliancesJoint ventures and strategic alliances provide quicker results than building an entirely new business. They also appear to present less complex logistical challenges than acquisitions. Yet misaligned strategic goals, unclear governance, skewed operating models, indistinct workforce strategies and cultural mismatches can lead to underperformance.
Heightened competition means buyers often have to commit without performing adequate due diligence, mitigating risk, determining compliance issues or fully developing post-merger integration plans. Mercer’s project management operations (PMO) approach combines world-class process management with real-time consulting. The result is the rapid identification and mitigation of risk.
Our expertise
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Workforce strategy
Determine critical roles and the talent needed to drive success. Formulate workforce strategies to address any gaps. -
Operating model
Develop your future strategy and operating model, including organization design, governance and decision rights. -
Talent assessment, retention and onboarding
Maximize deal success by assessing talent, identifying and selecting leaders, and retaining critical skill sets. -
Change management and communication
Conduct change management planning and integration focused on moving key stakeholders from both entities. -
Culture
Identify cultural risks to deal objectives, and build a comprehensive integration strategy and operating environment. -
Talent insights
Implement an AI-based approach to understand skills, identify risks and retention implications pre-close, and develop post-close talent strategies. -
HR technologies
Create the HR delivery platform required to support strategic objectives. -
Global benefits and policies
Understand, align and optimize benefits programs. We do this in more than 150 countries and for organizations of all sizes. -
Rewards
Determine whether executive, sales and general incentives help achieve synergies between organizations. -
Retirement
Understand, align and optimize pension plans, and mitigate associated risk globally.