In the latest episode of the Insurance Post Podcast, titled How to achieve a successful merger, Graham Smart, chief commercial officer of global claims services provider McLarens, and Howard Lickens, executive chairman of the Clear Group, share tips on how to find a buyer and achieve a smooth acquisition.

Sharing their experience of mergers and acquisition activity in the broker market, Lickens said he once had an adviser look at him askance when he pulled out of a deal because, while the balance sheet looked brilliant, there wasn’t a cultural fit.

Lickens said: “You can’t just buy on the basis that the money looks OK, so let’s buy it. There has to be a fit.”

He explained that the best way to establish whether two businesses were a good fit is swiftly building a relationship with key managers early on during the M&A process rather than simply looking at balance sheets.

Smart said it was vital to identify the important issues in the business at the earliest opportunity rather than during the due-diligence process if the deal was to complete.

Lickens said: “It is about preparing a business and making sure you have the key people won over internally – hearts and minds – and locked in emotionally as well as culturally, so that when the transaction completes the business looked exactly like it did before closure.

“Our industry is people-led. It is the people here that are the key factor.”

The pair also explain what will drive M&A activity in 2023, how to achieve a meeting of minds on price expectations, and the circumstances under which buyers will step away from a deal.

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