M&A Science

Pablo von Siebenthal, Global Head of M&A at Swissport

The global landscape offers exciting growth opportunities that make business expansion a strategic move. M&A can be a powerful tool for this, but global deals often come with cultural complexities and regulatory intricacies that require a strategic approach.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Pablo von Siebenthal, Global Head of M&A at Swissport, talks about how to handle global M&A.

Things you will also learn from this episode:

• Challenges of executing global deals

• Managing cultural differences in global M&A

• Overcoming cultural misunderstandings

• Playbook - Building cross-cultural relationships

• How to manage coordination between work streams

Join the M&A Science 2 Million Downloads Virtual Meet & Greet here: https://hubs.ly/Q02Gnk1d0

Connect with Kison through email at [email protected]

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This episode is sponsored by DealRoom. Ready to take your M&A to the next level with software made to manage each stage of the deal process? See how DealRoom can facilitate your next deal at https://dealroom.net

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Episode Timestamps

00:00 Intro 05:32 From M&A Advisory to Corporate Development 07:04 Executing M&A in the public environment vs private 08:47 Challenges of executing global M&A deals 13:39 Managing cultural differences in global M&A deals 17:58 Negotiation challenges in the Middle East 20:17 Cultural nuances in Asian M&A deals 26:53 Cultural differences in European M&A 29:58 Handling internal cultural differences 32:13 Negotiating cross-border M&A deals 33:17 Overcoming cultural misunderstandings 37:11 Building global relationships for pipeline 45:59 Other tips for building cross-cultural relationships 48:38 How to manage coordination between global work streams 52:52 Keeping M&A teams aligned on priorities 57:37 Crafting irresistible offers in M&A deals 59:16 Craziest thing in M&A

Wolfgang Schenk, VP of M&A at Belden

Opportunistic M&A can lead to bad acquisitions that don't align with the company's overall strategic goals. This creates a disjointed portfolio and integration challenges that could cause massive value leaks.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Wolfgang Schenk, VP of M&A at Belden, discusses the art of executing programmatic M&A to increase chances of M&A success.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• Benefits of programmatic M&A

• Required team for programmatic M&A

• Collaborating with the M&A team

• Transitioning to programmatic M&A

• Achieving team alignment

This episode is sponsored by DealRoom. Ready to take your M&A to the next level with software made to manage each stage of the deal process? See how DealRoom can facilitate your next deal at https://dealroom.net

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Episode Timestamps

00:00 Intro 05:57 Programmatic M&A 10:32 Benefits of programmatic M&A 12:39 Formulating the strategy 15:32 Challenging the strategy 16:24 Required team for programmatic M&A 18:37 Collaborating with the M&A team 24:02 Transitioning to programmatic M&A 26:08 Achieving team alignment 28:23 Success metrics in programmatic M&A 31:32 Pitching deals to executive 32:23 The hardest part of doing programmatic M&A 33:18 AI in M&A 40:45 Craziest thing in M&A

Tobias Gwisdalla, Head of Group M&A at GEA Group (G1A:FRA)

Transformative M&A is becoming increasingly critical in today's business landscape, especially for industries facing significant regulatory and market pressures.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, we will discuss how to execute transformative M&A to change business models, featuring Tobias Gwisdalla, Head of Group M&A at GEA Group.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• Transformative M&A

• Employee unions

• Biggest challenges in transformative M&A

• Success metrics

• Transforming business models

This episode is sponsored by the DealRoom. Ready to take your M&A to the next level with software made to manage each stage of the deal process? See how DealRoom can facilitate your next deal at https://dealroom.net

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Episode Timestamps

00:00 Intro 04:20 Transformative M&A 05:00 Governance 05:52 A story of a transformative deal 11:38 Employee unions - germany per history 17:36 Supervisory board 20:35 Biggest challenges in transformative M&A 25:59 Success metrics 28:50 Internal rate of return 35:05 Complexities of deals in Germany 40:48 Transforming business models 43:06 Promoting change as a shareholder 45:01 Craziest thing in M&A

M&A processes can vary from country to country, making cross-border deals extremely challenging. Understanding the cultural differences is crucial for a smooth transaction.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, we focus on how to do M&A deals in Germany, featuring Frank Tepper-Sawicki, Partner, Corporate M&A, Private Equity, and Venture Capital at Dentons.

Things you will learn:

• How dealmaking is different in Germany

• Structuring Deals in Germany

• Letter of Intent in Germany

• Prioritizations during deals in Germany

• Regulatory issues in Germany

This episode is sponsored by the DealRoom Ready to take your M&A to the next level with software made to manage each stage of the deal process? See how DealRoom can facilitate your next deal at https://dealroom.net

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Episode Timestamps

00:00 Intro

03:49 How dealmaking is different in Germany

05:48 Private Equity Emerging in Germany

07:47 Structuring Deals in Germany

16:33 Letter of Intent in Germany

22:11 Prioritizations during deals in Germany

24:59 Transparency in Germany

26:17 Regulatory issues in Germany

28:17 Laying off people in Germany

30:15 Biggest risk when doing deals in Germany

32:43 M&A culture in Germany

35:00 Dealing with people from Germany

37:28 M&A process in Germany

39:18 Craziest thing in M&A

Artificial Intelligence has taken the world by storm, and there seems to be no way of stopping it. Every industry in the world has adopted AI, and M&A is no different. The integration of AI is revolutionizing how deals are sourced, evaluated, and executed. In short, AI is becoming an indispensable tool for M&A professionals.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, we discuss how to make AI practical in M&A featuring two AI specialists: Michael Bachman, Head of Research, Architecture, and AI Strategy at Boomi, Chris Cappetta, Principal Solutions Architect at Boomi.

Things you will learn:

• Retrieval augmented generation

• Large language models

• Discriminative vs Generative AI

• Fine-tuning

• Agents

This episode is sponsored by FirmRoom.

FirmRoom provides 80% cost savings over VDRs that bill by page and delivers a far better user experience to boot. Sign up in under 2 minutes by going to https://firmroom.com

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Episode Timestamps

00:00 Intro 03:07 Making AI practical 04:36 Retrieval augmented generation 10:07 Large language models 13:15 Discriminative vs. Generative AI 16:37 Fine tuning 22:14 Agents 28:46 Real-life use cases of AI

Steve Lucas, CEO of Boomi

The technology industry is currently experiencing significant growth, particularly with the emergence of artificial intelligence. This trend has not only attracted significant investments but has also intensified the competition among tech companies striving to lead the market. This has made the tech space a prime area for M&A. Boomi is one of those companies who have recently made a significant move via acquisitions.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, we will discuss how to source deals in the tech space with Steve Lucas, CEO of Boomi.

Things you will learn:

• Approach on strategy

• Acquiring capabilities

• Deal sourcing in M&A

• Building relationships

• Negotiations during M&A

This episode is sponsored by DealRoom. Ready to take your M&A to the next level with software made to manage each stage of the deal process? See how DealRoom can facilitate your next deal at https://dealroom.net

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Episode Timestamps

00:00 Intro 10:16 Boomi's approach on strategy 16:32 Acquiring capabilities 18:55 Deal sourcing in M&A 22:12 Building relationships 25:45 Convincing someone to sell their business 30:51 Example of pitch 32:31 Negotiations during M&A 36:08 Tips on negotiating 38:45 M&A at Boomi 41:43 Making integration successful 47:26 AI in M&A 52:44 Boomi's future 45:26 Craziest thing in M&A

Michael Frankel, Founder and Managing Partner of Trajectory Capital.

Here at M&A Science, our goal is to bring you the best and most effective techniques to improve your M&A practice.

In light of our 300th podcast episode, we have compiled the top 10 things that make M&A successful, together with Michael Frankel, Founder and Managing Partner of Trajectory Capital.

Things you will learn:

• Alignment in the shared vision of the end-state

• Cultural alignment

• Reverse Diligence

• Continuous learning and improvement

• Empathetic leadership

This episode is sponsored by FirmRoom. FirmRoom provides 80% cost savings over VDRs that bill by page and delivers a far better user experience to boot. Sign up in under 2 minutes by going to https://firmroom.com

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Episode Bookmarks

00:00 Intro 05:58 Alignment in the shared vision of the end-state 10:51 Cultural alignment 15:03 Joint Go-to-market planning pre-LOI 20:24 Parallel diligence and integration planning 24:33 Reverse Diligence 27:13 Communication strategy with stakeholders 32:37 Continuous learning and improvement 35:16 Anticipate functional challenges 39:52 Empathetic leadership 44:47 Proper preparation 47:56 Craziest thing in M&A

Jeremy Segal, Executive Vice President Corporate Development at Progress (NASDAQ: PRGS)

When it comes to M&A, time is of the essence. As a buyer, it's best to identify whether to pursue the deal or not as soon as possible, to avoid wasting money and time. Also, if the seller is a good target company, procrastinating could lead to more competition.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Jeremy Segal, Executive Vice President Corporate Development at Progress, shares their strategy on how to close deals in 30 days.

Things you will learn:

• Initial conversations with the target company

• Price negotiations

• Preliminary due diligence list

• Deal specific adjustments

• Confirmatory due diligence

This episode is sponsored by the DealRoom.

Ready to take your M&A to the next level with software made to manage each stage of the deal process? See how DealRoom can facilitate your next deal at https://dealroom.net

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Episode Bookmarks

00:00 Intro 04:16 Initial conversations with the target company 08:56 Price negotiations 12:33 Preliminary due diligence list 17:05 When to ask questions 18:34 People Involved 19:10 Sales and Go-to-Market 21:02 Revenue Synergies 23:43 Customer Journey 24:26 Surprises 27:40 Customer Success 28:46 Financials 32:11 Red flags in people 32:47 Information Technology 34:28 Legal 36:48 Marketing 39:19 Breakdown of COGS 41:30 Benefits Template 42:56 Operating Expenses 43:58 General 44:58 Deal specific adjustments 45:56 Processing the preliminary diligence information 47:11 Confirmatory due diligence 50:40 Craziest thing in M&A

Steven Freidkin, CEO and Founder of Ntiva, Inc. and Christopher Vollmond-Carstens, Chief M&A Officer at Ntiva, Inc.

In a highly fragmented industry, roll-ups are a great growth strategy. But integrating multiple entities can be difficult, especially if you don't have a proven framework. Ntiva has been successful in its M&A strategy and has completed 15 acquisitions as of today.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Steven Freidkin, CEO and Founder of Ntiva, Inc. and Christopher Vollmond-Carstens, Chief M&A Officer at Ntiva, Inc., share their strategy on how to execute the roll-up strategy in the tech industry.

Things you will learn:

• Creating value using a roll-up strategy

• Evaluating a target company

• Importance of recurring revenue

• Red flags pre-LOI

• Biggest advice for first-timers

This episode is sponsored by the DealRoom. Ready to take your M&A to the next level with software made to manage each stage of the deal process? See how DealRoom can facilitate your next deal at https://dealroom.net

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Episode Bookmarks

00:00 Intro

08:04 Creating value using roll-up strategy

12:38 Pitching to private equity

18:32 Evaluating a target company

22:30 Importance of recurring revenue

23:35 Customer Concentration

26:42 Challenges of doing roll-ups

30:36 Mismanaging M&A

37:52 Deal Sourcing

43:46 Red flags pre-LOI

46:53 Deal structure on roll-ups

51:52 Biggest advice for first-timers

52:46 Craziest thing in M&A

Kyle Price, Chief of Staff & Corporate Development at Roblox

Creating a dedicated M&A function can be daunting for non-acquisitive companies. It's a big commitment that could take away valuable time and resources from top level management. However, when done right, corporate development muscle can be built slowly, and organically.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Kyle Price, Chief of Staff & Corporate Development at Roblox, shares his experience on how to start an M&A function slowly and successfully from scratch.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• When to build an M&A function

• Importance of the people side in M&A

• Working with business leaders

• Evolution of corporate development

• Handling biases in the M&A process

This episode is sponsored by FirmRoom. FirmRoom provides 80% cost savings over VDRs that bill by page and delivers a far better user experience to boot. Sign up in under 2 minutes by going to https://firmroom.com

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Episode Bookmarks

00:00 Intro

04:10 When to build an M&A function

07:40 Challenges of a high-growth company doing M&A

08:45 Lessons learned along the way

10:39 Importance of the people side in M&A

12:57 Integration planning

14:39 Working with business leaders

16:42 Deal sourcing

17:24 Overcoming anti-M&A culture

22:04 Team alignment from functional leads

24:02 M&A surprises

25:59 Setting up new leaders for success

28:07 Evolution of corporate development

33:15 Measuring corporate development activity

34:20 Incentivizing the team

35:03 Handling biases in the M&A process

43:33 Craziest thing in M&A