Managing mergers

How do you plan for post-merger integration success? Alka Bharucha and Justin Bharucha explain

External counsel are typically engaged intensively in the early stages of a transaction with increased participation up to completion. After this, we drop off the radar. As a result, most external counsel view transactions in terms of “getting the deal done”.

This results in an inefficient use of the acumen and experience which external counsel can bring to the table and detracts considerably from value contribution. The excitement of closing and the pleasure of a closing dinner are all very well, but for our clients, the real work starts only after these initial celebrations.

It is a trope that any M&A transaction succeeds only if integration succeeds and, increasingly, clients have tasked us to assist the integration team to plan for that success. Clients expect holistic lawyering during the timeline typical of external counsel engagement to help lay the foundation on which the integration team can build.

The first and most important step to planning post-merger integration is identifying whether the deal is an acquisition or a merger.

An acquisition-oriented client will require the seamless and efficient setup of its systems, processes and culture, with an effective redundancy plan for those at the target company prior to transaction completion.

Alka Bharucha is a senior partner and Justin Bharucha is a partner at Bharucha & Partners.