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O P I N I O N

A t our annual Hot Firm and A/E Industry Awards Conference in September, I had the pleasure of moderating a powerhouse panel of M&A experts during an hour- long breakout session. We had two seasoned buyers represented, our own Mark Zweig, and an M&A attorney with almost 200 deals within the A/E industry. Expert opinion The decision to pursue an M&A growth strategy can benefit your firm, but it helps to know what you’re doing on the front end.

Jamie Claire Kiser

I won’t be able to do justice to the conversation, but I can share some of the key takeaways from that remarkable session. 1)Vest authority to the smallest group of people that are essential to the actions they are ap- proved to take. We know of firms that have an M&A committee that is larger than the firms they seek to acquire! If your firm wants to pursue inor- ganic growth options, agree ahead of time who is going to be involved, make that group as small as possible, and establish the limit of their authority to evaluate opportunities before you begin the process. Once that leader or small team crosses the pre-de- termined hurdle, whether it’s an in-person meeting, building a financial model, or discussing deal terms, they will be responsible for reporting their recom- mendations to the larger group. 2)The seller’s leadership is valuable. If you are con- sidering an external sale as part of your exit strategy, make sure you have plenty of time to devote to en- suring the success of the transaction after closing.

The buyers on our panel reiterated that they are ac- quiring the skills and talents of the employees of the firm, and the buying firm needs the management experience and leadership of the seller’s key folks to make that happen. This means that firms that want to sell need to start years in advance – at least five years – of their targeted retirement date if they want to receive the highest value for their enterprise. “The less restrictive your criteria for identifying a target firm, the more likely you are to find a great deal that makes sense.” 3)Bring in the experts. Firms that try to avoid re- taining external support – especially legal advisors – until the last possible second are not doing them- selves any favors. M&A attorneys with experience in

See JAMIE CLAIRE KISER, page 10

THE ZWEIG LETTER November 14, 2016, ISSUE 1176

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