Integration & Separation

Our integration and separation service capabilities focus on the preservation and delivery of value through the completion of a transaction and beyond. We apply a framework that considers operational insights, the imperative of control and evaluation of culture and personnel.

We work with clients at different stages of the transaction lifecycle to help ensure deal objectives and value targets are met in a timely manner, with minimal disruption to business. Our approach is tailored to the requirements of each client and integration, with an emphasis on practical and tangible financial and operational outcomes.

We bridge the advisory relationship from pre-deal to post-deal execution, spanning from the identification and quantification of value in the transaction, through to design and mobilisation of the integration program, and management of execution in the post-completion period. We assist with all integration workstreams including finance, IT, HR, procurement, supply chain, sales, etc. We also help with:

• Synergy evaluation: Quantification of the potential cost and revenue of a transaction, an understanding of the costs, risks and timing of benefits.
• Synergy due diligence: An independent, objective review/challenge of existing synergy assessment and robust challenge and documentation of assumptions.
• Pre-completion planning: Preparation for transaction completion, support for design of integration program, formulation of key operating model, establishment of a governance structure and mobilisation of workstreams.
• Day 1 readiness: Detailed day 1 plans for operational control, stabilisation of the business and stakeholder communications.
• 100 Day Planning: Support for the Integration Management Office, focusing on delivery of communication, value creation opportunities and evaluation of the operating model change required.

We assist management in understanding, planning for and mitigating the separation risks to protect value for the vendor or buyer. Too often separation planning is viewed as an operational execution challenge and clients can end up missing the strategic deal rationale and value protection imperative of a robust separation plan.

We assist both vendors and buyers in maximising value. We help vendors to implement a structured approach, to understand and mitigate separation risk, perceived dis-synergies and other significant factors that may lead to value leakage. We help buyers to understand separation risks, potential costs and dis-synergies and their impact on the valuation of the target business to help ensure they don’t overpay. In addition we can help with:

• determining the true stand-alone costs of the business and the associated one-off costs
• enhancing deal value through an operational separation process.
• key dependencies during separation planning, including identifying the functions/services the target is currently reliant on the parent for, and plans for how these can be replaced post separation
• defining and valuing the ongoing relationship between the vendor’s business and the target, including helping identify services/arrangements that need to continue post separation.