Integrated Support for Mergers & Acquisitions

Cook & Company can provide support at all phases of a merger/acquisition program, from strategic assistance through due diligence and after-transaction alignment initiatives. Some of the key areas in which we can help:

Base Strategy

Since most studies indicate that over 50% of M&A transactions actually destroy shareholder value, strategy is the most crucial step of all. We can help identify whether a carefully planned acquisition, merger, or divestiture program is likely to actually increase your shareholder value.

Defining Criteria

We emphasize this important step as we have seen many instances where an acquisition strategy itself failed because it did not give sufficient weight to three key areas:

• Strategy of the combined ethics
• Fit of organizational cultures
• Leadership planning for combination and succession, including contingency planning

Candidate Screening

Through a broad range of contacts acquired over many years in the business, consulting, legal, accounting, and investment banking communities, we can help identify a short-list of key candidates.

Acquisition Planning

It is important to allocate sufficient resources and brainpower – at all levels – to this important task. We have a broad range of experience in many industries and most management disciplines and can help carefully plan how to maximize the use of your resources, identify the critical issues, even get good “back channel” information on how things are actually going as opposed to how people say they are going.

Post-Merger Alignment

No matter how carefully you plan and execute, there will remain key issues to be resolved after the transaction event. We can help identify what those issues are, how best to deal with them, and how to measure progress toward where you want to be to maximize the value you hope to create.