Author:

Steve Sahara
Director
Stout Risius Ross
ssahara@srr.com

Growth through mergers and acquisitions remains a key growth strategy given slow single digit growth in GDP and other headwinds to organic growth and/or perceived risks of new product/new market development. This growth motivation, coupled with ample sources of low cost debt capital, have led to very high transaction multiples and deals that some say are “priced to perfection.” Sellers and intermediaries that represent them are driven to reduce execution risk, seek certainty of close, and minimize time in market through a well-orchestrated auction process. Many academics and consultants warn that as much as 50% to 80% of M&A transactions fail to add shareholder value, and media headlines have covered numerous high profile multi-billion dollar mergers that have failed to deliver the intended shareholder benefits, often due to factors that due diligence is designed to uncover.