M&A.
Mergers, acquisitions, and the deals that reshape companies — from first diligence to the messy work of integration.
M&A — mergers and acquisitions — is the work of buying, selling, and combining companies, from first diligence through the messy reality of integration. Most advice is written for the bankers who run the transaction; far less is written for the finance teams who build the valuation, pressure-test the synergy case, and then have to live with the result.
And the result is mostly won or lost after the close: deals fail in integration far more often than in valuation. Strategy of Finance covers what finance actually owns — diligence, the model, and the first hundred days, where a single source of truth, clear ownership of combined reporting, and retaining the people the thesis depends on decide whether the synergies in the deck ever reach the P&L.
Essays 2
Episodes 2
Related questions
Reviewed- What does a finance team actually own in M&A?
- More than the model. Pre-deal, finance runs diligence on the target's numbers, builds the valuation and the synergy case, and pressure-tests the assumptions the deal depends on. Post-close, it owns the integration that actually realizes — or quietly loses — the value: combining systems, reporting, and controls, and tracking whether the synergies in the deck show up in the P&L. Bankers run the transaction; finance lives with the result.
- Why do most acquisitions fail to create value?
- Because the value is won or lost after the close, and that's the part nobody staffs properly. The model assumes synergies that integration never delivers, the two finance stacks don't reconcile, key people leave, and 'one company' stays two for years. Deals fail in integration far more often than in valuation — the diligence was fine; the first 100 days weren't.
- What matters most in the first 100 days after a deal closes?
- Decisiveness on the few things that compound: a single source of truth for the numbers, clear ownership of combined reporting and controls, retention of the people the thesis depends on, and a short list of synergy commitments with names and dates against them. Speed matters because ambiguity is where value leaks — every month left 'to be decided' is another month of two cultures, two systems, and two scorecards.
- How is M&A different for a strategic buyer versus a financial sponsor?
- A strategic buyer is acquiring capability or market and lives with the integration forever, so the synergy and culture questions dominate. A financial sponsor (private equity) is buying a return over a defined hold, so the discipline is operational improvement, leverage, and an exit thesis from day one. The finance work rhymes — diligence, value capture, reporting — but the clock and the definition of 'success' differ. Thoma Bravo's Pete Boyes is a useful listen on the sponsor's operating lens.