When companies are looking for fast growth, generally speaking, the most effective way to achieve this is to acquire other companies. There are only a small number of sectors in which extremely fast organic growth can occur without the need to inject external resources.
This exact same model could and should be applied to the M&A process itself; in-house teams are often either not specialised enough for the project being undertaken, or they are not cost efficient. The traditional model of in-house M&A teams is simply no longer viable for many companies.
An in-house M&A or Corporate Development team isn’t enough anymore
It is not good business to maintain an in-house team for acquisitions if your company’s current strategy is not in an acquisitive phase. Instead, by injecting highly specialised M&A professionals into your corporate development team you will not only achieve a better deal, but also save costs.
Here’s some more explanation as to why the TaaS model works so well in M&A:
“X” as a Service
When you operate with an as a service model it is more affordable, quick and allows for more specialist professionals.
When you are contracting someone to perform a service there are no long-term obligations and you only need to pay for their services whilst there is a project to undertake.
In this way, expenses are minimised as you are not maintaining an entire team who are lying in wait for projects, all the while on your company’s payroll.
Join the tier-1 M&A community
M&A Talent as a Service
This model is particularly useful to adopt when it comes to M&A transactions, where there are natural peaks and troughs in the workload of any in-house M&A team in a big corporation in any given year.
In one quarter the company might be going through a significant acquisition phase, but by the next quarter the strategy has changed to consolidation and there is much less use for those who make deals with 3rd parties. In addition, by contracting talent on a per-project basis you are able to seek out the very best M&A professionals in any given industry.
Not only can you benefit from all this experience in a specific niche, but you can also leverage this talent at a greatly reduced cost.
How external M&A specialists benefit your internal team
This way of working is also better for the employees themselves, as it gives them an exit-strategy from their current full-time position. Being able to pick and choose which projects to work on, rather than a prescriptive approach to taking on projects, allows talent to choose work most suited to their interests and skill sets.
M&A deals are often multifaceted and require many specialist inputs. If you are in the beginning stages of the process then you should have the opportunity to hire an Acquisition Strategy specialist, or Company Valuation specialist.
Or, if you need a leader to guide the process end-to-end, you should hire an M&A generalist, but with specialist knowledge of the sector in which you are looking to sell or acquire. A talent as a service approach to building and maintaining a more flexible M&A team yields better results for both clients and talent – it’s a no-brainer!
