UK Business Information / Mergers & Acquisitions

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS - KEY CONSIDERATIONS

Firstly, it is important to assess the reasons for any proposed deal:

- Does the buyer have an acquisition strategy in place?

- Is the proposed acquisition aimed at taking an existing product into new markets or diversifying into new products, for example?

- Will the acquisition or merger be a vertical or horizontal integration?

Many small and medium size acquisitions tend to focus on horizontal integration, with companies buying businesses in a similar industry, as this is often considered a safer option. However, there is a trend towards customers or clients being serviced by one supplier, with the supplier providing an all-in-one service. This favours vertical integration but is sometimes less successful as acquirers are less familiar with the new lines of business.

Each of these questions needs to be carefully considered.

Charles is a partner at Saffery Champness' London office and head of the firm's Corporate Finance group. Charles joined the firm as a Partner in 2002. He trained with Coopers & Lybrand and went on to join Hambros Bank and Andersen Corporate Finance, where he was also a Partner and Head of its Media and Entertainment team.

Charles advises companies on all areas of lead advisory and transaction support services. Transactions he has led include AIM flotations, MBIs, MBOs, fundraisings, mergers, acquisitions and disposals. Charles has experience across many sectors including media and entertainment, telecoms, technology, IT, sports and financial services businesses.

Charles heads the Corporate Finance team which provides a broad range of corporate and strategic deal advice to clients. Clients are generally small to medium sized enterprises with significant owner involvement. Most transactions are between £2m and £50m in size. Many clients are privately held businesses but the firm continues to grow its listed company client base. Corporate Finance is very much at the heart of this.