Mergers, Acquisitions & Integration
Deals are priced on an operating case. We build the systems, data and processes that case depends on, and measure whether it arrives.
Our perspective
Mergers, acquisitions and integration work at THEFOCUS covers the operating side of a transaction: defining what the business needs a deal to do, integrating or separating systems, data and processes, planning and tracking value creation after completion, governing alliances, and preparing a business's records and operations for a sale. We do not value companies or advise on whether to buy or sell. We build the systems that make the operating case real.
Integration problems are usually visible before signing and priced after it. The deal case assumes the two businesses will share a customer base, a warehouse or a reporting pack, while nobody has checked that their product codes, customer records and charts of accounts can be joined. After completion, the first monthly close takes weeks, two sets of revenue figures disagree, and the benefits the board approved are reported as a percentage of a baseline nobody can reproduce.
We start with the records of both sides. Before integration planning, we map how each business records orders, customers, products, costs and people, and where those records will collide. The integration plan is then built around the joins that have to work on day one, such as billing, payroll inputs, reporting and customer communication, and the larger system moves are sequenced behind them. Each benefit in the deal case is tied to a ledger or operational record with a baseline taken before anything changes.
The same team plans the integration, builds the data migrations, integrations and reporting, and tracks value against the baseline. Partners with specific platform, market or sector depth join per deal. Valuation, deal advice, legal and tax work stay with the client's regulated advisers, and we work alongside them so the operating evidence and the transaction documents describe the same business.
How we help clients
M&A Strategy & Integration Thesis
Defining what an acquisition must do for the business and whether its systems and team can absorb one, before any target is chosen or priced.
ExplorePost-Merger Integration
Integration of systems, data, processes and reporting after a deal, with day one secured, benefits baselined at completion and migrations built in-house.
ExploreCarve-outs & Separations
Separating a business, brand or division from shared systems, data and contracts, with transitional services costed and an exit date for each.
ExploreValue Creation Planning
Post-completion plans for owners and management: the operating changes that build value, sequenced, owned and tracked from source records.
ExploreJoint Ventures & Alliances
Governance, shared measures, data-sharing and reporting for joint ventures and partnerships, so each party sees the same figures.
ExploreExit Readiness
Getting a business's records, reporting, systems and processes into a state where its own figures agree and its operations run without the founder.
Explore
Business challenges
01
An operating case nobody tested against the systems
The deal case assumes shared customers, shared fulfilment or a single reporting pack. Whether the two businesses' product, customer and account records can be joined is discovered after completion.
02
Day-one gaps in the basics
Invoices go out under the wrong entity, payroll inputs arrive in two formats and customers receive conflicting messages, because the integration plan concentrated on the target operating model and left the first weeks to chance.
03
Benefits that cannot be traced
Savings and revenue gains are reported against a baseline that was never fixed, so the board cannot tell whether the deal is delivering what it approved.
04
Separations that leave the seller exposed
A carve-out leaves shared systems, data and contracts tangled for months, with transitional service arrangements that nobody costed and no plan to end them.
05
Sales delayed by the state of the records
Buyers ask for revenue by customer, product and month, and the business cannot produce figures that agree with its own accounts. Questions multiply and the timetable slips.
How we approach it
Map both sides from the records
We read how each business records orders, customers, products, costs and people, and set out where those records collide before integration or separation is planned.
Secure day one, then sequence the rest
Billing, payroll inputs, reporting, customer communication and access are made to work at completion. Larger platform moves follow in an order set by dependency and benefit.
Fix the baseline before anything changes
Each benefit in the deal case is tied to a ledger or operational record and its baseline read at completion, with a counting rule agreed by finance.
Build and migrate in the same team
Data migration, integrations, reporting and process changes are built by the team that planned them, with partners chosen for the platforms and markets in the deal.
Work alongside the regulated advisers
Valuation, deal, legal and tax questions stay with the client's advisers. We supply operating evidence and align the integration plan with the transaction documents.
Relevant industries
How outcomes are evaluated
- Day-one readiness items working at completion
- Benefits realised against the baseline read at completion, by source record
- Time to the first combined monthly close
- Transitional service arrangements exited against plan
- Reconciliation between operating records and the accounts for each period
Scope boundaries
- We do not provide investment advice, valuations or fairness opinions, and we do not recommend whether to buy, sell or invest in a business.
- We do not prepare due-diligence reports for lenders or investors. Where a buyer or seller needs operating information, we help the business produce accurate records; the diligence opinion belongs to the advisers appointed for it.
- We do not give legal or tax advice. Structures, contracts and tax positions are for the client's own advisers, and we work alongside them.
- We do not promise deal outcomes. Integration and value-creation plans state in advance which measures will show progress.
How an engagement with THEFOCUS starts
A first conversation is about your situation. If there is a fit, we propose a scoped diagnostic with a fixed deliverable before any larger commitment.
Discuss this with us01
A working conversation
Forty-five minutes with the person who would lead the work. We ask about the decision, the systems behind it and the deadline.
02
A scoped diagnostic
Read-only access, a fixed timeframe and a written finding: what the records show, what it costs and what to change first.
03
A plan you can act on
Changes, owners, measures and exclusions in writing. The same team then builds and measures, or hands over cleanly.
- One accountable team
- The people who diagnose also build the systems and measure the result.
- Partners chosen per problem
- Independent specialists join for the parts that need them, under one contract.
- Records before dashboards
- Orders, ledgers and logs are reconciled before any recommendation depends on them.
Questions executives ask
Do you advise on which companies to buy or what to pay?
No. We do not give investment advice, valuations, fairness opinions or deal recommendations. Our work is the operating side: integration, separation, value-creation planning, alliance governance and exit readiness of systems, data and operations.
When should we involve you in a deal?
Before signing where possible, so the operating assumptions in the deal case are tested against both businesses' systems. We also take on integrations and separations already under way.
Do you prepare due-diligence reports?
No. We do not write due-diligence reports for lenders or investors. We help a business get its records, reporting and processes into a state where its own figures are accurate and consistent.
Who else is involved alongside THEFOCUS?
The client's corporate-finance, legal and tax advisers handle the transaction. Specialist partners chosen for the deal may join us for particular platforms, markets or sectors, and THEFOCUS stays accountable for the operating work.
Do you work with investors as well as companies?
Yes. We work with owners and investors on value-creation planning and integration after completion, and with management teams on exit readiness. We do not advise on investment decisions.
What systems do you typically integrate or separate?
Commerce platforms, accounting systems, CRM, analytics and advertising accounts, reporting, data pipelines and custom software. Partners join for specific enterprise platforms where more depth is needed.
Discuss this with us
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