[Christopher]

For those of you who have been involved in post-merger integrations:

Have you ever worked on a deal where the cultural fit looked strong, the synergy case was compelling, and all the usual red flags were cleared, but something unexpected emerged after close that materially hurt value or slowed integration?

What happened, how did you respond, and what would you do differently in future diligence or integration planning to catch it earlier?

[jeffreestar]

I agree that even with strong synergies, there are still potential risks. The case Among Us Online I encountered was a difference in project management that slowed down progress. In the future, I will add a culture and operations checklist to the due diligence phase to detect early.

[Fredie_Reyes]

I was involved in PMIs where, as you put it, the case was strong – from the POV of strategic, financial and cultural fit. Post-closing however, something went wrong. Looking back, part of the reasons was that at pre-acquisition, there were material information not available to the deal team which emerged only post acquisition. In some cases, the deal team was able to address by adjusting the integration plan. They also adjusted the target synergies to a realistic level. But in other cases, failure was also due to the fact that the motivation / push from the leadership to realise the synergies was simply inadequate.

In my experience, one of the major reasons M&As fail is because of disproportionate emphasis on pre-deal preparation; whereas the most critical aspect, i.e. integration is sidelined or becomes rather an afterthought.

[Niklas Heinzelmann]

I think it is normal that new undetected problems will emerge during PMI.

[Author]

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