Monday, February 4, 2008

Et's Think Turf Panel Discussion on M and A

October 2007

A panel discussion and mergers and acquisition was organized by Economic Time (ET) and Computer Associates (CA).

Experts said companies must exercise caution not to jump into the M &A bandwagon without a strategic purpose, early preparation and a clear roadmap for integration.

A warning was given that acquisitions can become the winner's curse if merely undertaken for its own sake rather than a compelling need.


Mr. Anil Singhvi, MD Ican Investment Advisors, has said when times are good, bigger mistakes are made. So companies have to be mreo careful.

V.N.Dhoot of Videocon group said taht preparation is the key. At Videocon, executives keep an eye out for companies that might come out for sale in the next few years and study them beforehand. This provides a competitive advantage when a 90-day typical auction window is opened. Acquisitions fail when done without homework.

Standard Charteted Bank's MD of corporate advisory and finance, Sunil Mehra emphasized the importance of integration. The success of an acquisition directly depends on the quality of integration and whether one can digest the acquired firm.

Ashank Desai said frankly that there are no mergers and only acquisitions are there. If the both the companies are of equal size there will be more problems in integration.

John Swainson, President and CEO, CA gave the key note address and said his experience of more than 40 acuisitions points out the need for the integration of information technology infrastructure to make the companies work successfully post integration.

2 comments:

cisdeepak said...

Mergers & Acquisitions are not ones cup of tea. Very true it needs Thought and planning. If you have capability then M&A Jobs are waiting for you.

cisdeepak said...

I actually tend to experience these things in realtime with companies I interact with. The recent interactions reminded me of how set we become and fail to question strategy. Find Mergers & Acquisitions Jobs here.