Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1172746
50 SMT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2019 everybody gets new opportunities and refreshed viewpoints; as they say, "The rising tide raises all ships." It can be terrific strategically. It's exciting when you become a part of a bigger entity and have so much more to offer as well as more resources, tools, and opportu- nities for advancement. When it's done just to deploy capital, it may have the same outcome, but you're going to have to figure out how it plays out and reach a win-win situation, even though I know that's an overused cliché. But if you don't have a clear win-win situation at the time of the acquisition, you're going to have a hard time with one moving forward. Feinberg: I totally agree. The mission of the acquisition needs to be defined by the acquisi- tion team as directed by the board. Is it to grow or diversify the business by entering other industries? The mission needs to be defined, and one of the first tasks should be to set up a mission statement for the acquisition. Johnson: With your objectives clear and a mis- sion statement in place, you're not advising companies to stand pat in this current indus- try. If it's in their sights to acquire or sell, they should be actively talking about that right now. Feinberg: You should always have your eyes open and looking for opportunities. Leave it up to senior management to run the company, grow the business, and gain more customers; that's the sales manager's job. Strategic devel- opment and growth is the senior executive's job, so let them do that. Set the mission when you're looking at a potential acquisition, and you can't finalize that mission until you come up with a target company. For example, if Gen- eral Motors wanted to buy Boeing, they would probably be aiming to diversify, whereas if Gen- eral Motors wanted to buy Ford, they would be expanding; those are different missions. Johnson: My personal experience with M&A was the integration of systems and meth- ods between two companies once they were brought together. Given that you've had some recent acquisition experience, is there anything you should pay attention to once you've signed the deal, money has changed hands, and you have combined employees trying to create a larger entity out of all of this? O'Neil: Have an integration plan done before- hand; don't wait for the deal to close, and then say, "Well, now we have to put them together." Diligence and integration go hand in hand. Determine who your integration champions will be as well as the key points you want to highlight. Prepare 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day plans right away; together, assemble a plan for what you want to do in the first year, second year, etc., because it's going to be more com- plicated than it appeared in the pre-close. Hav- ing a clear shortlist of what you need to do that everyone understands from both sides of the table can create some early wins where the two teams truly join as one. Johnson: Those are great words of advice. Feinberg: This is not an easy topic to discuss because it's so variable. We're talking about tactics for playing sports in general versus tac- tics for specifically playing football, pickleball, etc. M&A is such broad a topic; it's a universe. I do not believe that anyone can be a true expert in all aspects of M&A. Johnson: Joe, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. O'Neil: It has been good to catch up with you both. SMT007 Having a clear shortlist of what you need to do that everyone understands from both sides of the table can create some early wins where the two teams truly join as one. " "