Chairman’s Message – February 2021
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council

With substantial capital available, acquirers are anticipating greater deal volume and more competition among potential buyers, especially more experienced or more agile private equity or SPAC buyers.  Many active acquirers are doing multiple, simultaneous, and overlapping deals; often with different deal-types, structures and with varying degrees of risk and integration challenges.

Chairman’s Message – January 2021
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council

In addition to our excellent educational content and fantastic Alumni community helping you get every aspect of M&A right in your organization, we are pleased to debut several important “can’t miss” webinars

Board M&A Tips for the New Normal
Mark Herndon Interviews with Boardroom Insider

For the global economy, 2020 was no doubt a series of shocks, but the crashing lows seem to have been followed by some giddy highs (in late November the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average finished above 30,000 for the first time in history).  Merger and acquisition activity has been bouncy too. 

2020 Global M&A Report with financial league tables
Submitted by Mergermarket, an Acuris Company and partner of the M&A Leadership Council 

M&A activity in the first half was subdued (USD 971.0bn), leading to an overall 6.6% year-on-year decline by value. Amid the social and economic disruptions caused by COVID-19, deal count was down 15.5%, from 20,767 to 17,545. While a few sectors fell, others rose, making it a bumpy ride for deal professionals.

Integrating Your Target Company’s Secret Sauce for the Perfect Blend
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council and John Bender, President of M&A Partners

We are often asked, “Is it even possible to preserve and leverage a TargetCo’s secret sauce.” We will be the first to admit that most acquirers have learned the hard way, by unintentionally blowing up one or more highly unique TargetCo’s. Yet, with strategic insight, effective leadership and a mature internal M&A process, acquirers can master this vital capability.

Building the Case for Your Integration Management Office
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council 

We’ve always believed that M&A success is “top-down strategy-led process highly dependent on superb, bottom-up integration program management, planning, and execution.” 

Chairman's Message - December 2020
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council  

As we wrap up our final training event of the year and turn toward 2021 planning and the holidays all of us at the M&A Leadership Council are counting our blessings!

Leadership Principles for Executing Your First Acquisition
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council 

In the last 60 days, we have met with over a dozen of such executive teams ranging from roughly $100M to well over $3B in annual revenues that are just now venturing out to buy their first-ever company – or in some cases, their first acquisition in recent history.

Mergermarket’s 3Q20 Global Report 
Submitted by Mergermarket, An Acuris Company

Chairman's Message - November 2020
By Mark Herndon, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council  

The M&A surge of Q3 and early Q4 2020 has been nothing short of remarkable. Jumping from nearly a full pause of all activity - other than deals essentially completed before the onset of COVID-19, deal activity over the last 60 days or so has pushed many corporate acquirers into overdrive and pushed many professional services firms to “near sold-out” status.