Renzo DemartiniPost-merger integration · Canberra and across Australia
Post-merger integration, from due diligence to day 100.
An acquisition is one decision. An integration is a hundred smaller ones, and most of them should be made before the deal completes. I lead integrations for mid-market businesses as a finance executive who has had to live with the deal afterwards.
In short
- The value of a deal is decided in its first 100 days, and much of what decides it happens before day one.
- Due diligence is the first draft of the integration plan: every finding is either a price issue or a plan item.
- Stabilise in the first 30 days, merge where the business carries risk or duplicated cost, and leave alone what customers value.
- Two integrations I can point to with numbers: A$100K a year in cost synergies, and an acquisition that returned five times its A$500K price in EBIT within 18 months.
01 Before day 1
Before day 1: due diligence as the first draft of the plan.
Due diligence is not only a check on the price. Every finding is either a price issue or a plan item, and I write each one down as one or the other.
Then the integration case goes on a single page. Why are we buying this business? What must be true for the deal to have worked, and by when? What will we deliberately not touch? If the leadership team can’t agree on that page, they won’t agree on anything harder later.
Know your walk-away point. When a vendor reopens terms late, the model is what you negotiate with. As CFO I was close to completing an A$500K regional acquisition when the vendor tried to renegotiate at the last minute. We saved the deal, completed it and integrated it.
Finally, the day-one list: who signs, who gets paid and from which account, who tells the staff and the customers, and who has access to which systems. None of it is glamorous. All of it goes wrong if nobody owns it.
02 Days 1–30
Days 1–30: stabilise, don’t redesign.
The first month is about continuity. People are paid correctly and on time. Suppliers are paid. Customers are served without noticing a change. Cash is visible every week across both businesses.
It is also the time to listen. I meet the people in the acquired business, find out where the work really gets done, and keep the routines that hold the place together unless they create risk. Early change should fix a risk or deliver a cost item in the plan. Everything else can wait for evidence.
03 Merge or leave
What to merge after an acquisition, and what to leave alone.
- Merge early
Where the business carries risk or duplicated cost.
Banking and payments. Payroll. Approval limits and delegations. Insurance and compliance. A mapping of the acquired chart of accounts to yours, so the numbers can be read together from the first month.
- Leave alone
What customers value.
In a regional business that is usually local: the relationships, the people customers know by name, the way the business sells in its area. Strip that out to tidy the structure and you can lose the reason you bought it.
04 The numbers
The numbers that prove the deal.
Cost synergies only count once they show up in the ledger. I book the cost items from the integration case into the plan with owners and dates, and report a short list on one page against the deal model:
- weekly cash across both businesses;
- revenue and gross margin of the acquired business, by month, against the model;
- retention of key customers;
- turnover among key people in the acquired team;
- cost synergies booked in the ledger, against plan; and
- integration costs, against budget.
If one line drifts, you want to know within weeks, not months. By day 100 there should be one set of numbers, one operating rhythm, clear owners and the first cost items in the ledger. The integration won’t be finished. It should be routine.
05 Track record
Two integrations, with numbers.
Both were regional acquisitions. Past results aren’t a promise of what will happen in your deal.
- A$100KA year in cost synergies, plus expansion into Southern NSW. I led the financial due diligence and the post-merger integration as Head of Finance. Read the case study
- 5×An A$500K acquisition’s purchase price, returned in EBIT within 18 months, after a last-minute renegotiation. As CFO. Read the case study
Not sure which of these you need? Most engagements start with a Diagnostic: one to two weeks, a fixed fee, and you’ll know what to fix first.
Start a conversation06 Boards and investors
For boards and investors: integration oversight.
If you sit on the board or the investor side, the question is different: is the integration delivering what the deal model promised? Through Board and investor support I provide due diligence from someone who has had to live with the deal afterwards, independent oversight of the post-deal integration, and board advice that reads the ledger and the operations together. It is a fixed fee per deal, or a monthly retainer for ongoing support.
If you want the integration led hands-on, that is Lead the change: I set the accountabilities, the decision rights and the weekly rhythm alongside your team, and stay until the integration is routine. Every engagement is agreed in writing before work starts.
07 Questions
Common questions.
When should integration planning start?
Before the deal completes. Due diligence is the first draft of the integration plan, and the day-one list (who signs, who gets paid, who tells the staff and customers, and who has access to which systems) has to be ready at completion.
What should you integrate first after an acquisition?
Whatever carries risk or duplicated cost: banking and payments, payroll, approval limits and delegations, insurance and compliance, and a mapping of the chart of accounts. Leave alone what customers value until you have evidence.
When do cost synergies count?
When they show up in the ledger. Book each cost item from the integration case into the plan with an owner and a date, and report it against plan every month.
Can you support the board rather than lead the integration?
Yes. Board and investor support covers due diligence, independent oversight of the integration and board advice, on a fixed fee per deal or a monthly retainer for ongoing support.
Do you work on deals outside Canberra?
Yes. I’m based in Canberra and work across Australia, remotely and in person, and I travel for engagements.
Keep reading
Related reading.
- Integration
The first 100 days of an integration
An acquisition is one decision, but an integration is a hundred smaller ones, and most of them should be made before the deal completes.
Read → - Reporting
Management accounts and reporting that drive decisions, and that a board can trust
Design the report around one decision, then run five checks before an automated report reaches the CEO and board, and test them by breaking the report on purpose.
Read → - Finance operations
How a month-end close went from 21 days to 5
A slow close is rarely one big problem; it is many small waits, and the fix is to remove them in the right order.
Read → - Case study · IntegrationA$100K
A$100K a year in cost synergies from a regional acquisition
Financial due diligence and the post-merger integration, with growth into a new region.
Read the case study → - Case study · Acquisitions5×
An acquisition that returned five times its price in EBIT
A vendor who tried to renegotiate at the last minute, and a deal that was saved, completed and integrated.
Read the case study →
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