Robert Heaton & Toby Tester

Shows

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyHIGH SPEED AI vs CUMBERSOME LEGAL, REGULATORY AND ETHICAL DEVELOPMENTSIn recent weeks Rob and Toby have veered slightly off the M&A topic to explore the emerging world of AI and how it might shake up M&A as we know it. In doing that we've arrived at the challenges of adopting adequate regulatory and ethical controls for AI and never mind the slow cumbersome legal system and how that might cope with AI.The key point is that AI needs global standards for regulation, ethics and legal controls and anyone with a degree of experience knows how difficult that might be to achieve. In Australia, i...2024-02-1232 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE URGENCY FOR ETHICAL AND REGULATORY CONTROLS ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCERobert and Toby have been clamping at the bit to start talking about the need for strong ethics, regulatory and legal instruments to manage and control the global adoption of AI.There's no doubt about it. AI has the equal potential to cause untold harm, and the scandal playing out with the UK Post Office is a stark reminder of how ethics can be completely railroaded. That is why it must be developed ethically. And that's what we're going to go into the next podcast. But today, we've been talking about the Post Office scandal because it...2024-01-2529 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyWILL THERE BE AN AI DRIVEN M&A WAVE - SOONER OR LATER?This week, the Dynamic Duo of Robert and Toby ponder on whether AI will drive a new wave of AI-influenced M&A transactions - or not. Certainly, 2023 has seen a 40% downturn in M&A volume globally so what evidence is there that AI will offer a stimulus and create a new wave of transactions?It's not a simple question to answer because AI is still in its infancy, but adoption is accelerating at an alarming pace whilst regulation and legal controls are somewhat lagging and undeveloped.The duo give this topic a good thrashing and g...2024-01-1831 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyWHAT ROLE SHOULD AI PLAY IN THE M&A PROCESSRobert and Toby continue to delve into the topic of AI and in this episode, we start to examine how AI is or will impact each of the typical M&A processes. As the duo walk through the process from Deal Sourcing to Due Diligence and then into Legal Contracts and Valuation it becomes clear that AI is already playing a strong role in some aspects of M&A. But equally, there are other areas where AI might play a supporting role, where the need for human intervention is still prominent in what Toby refers to as 'the art...2024-01-0829 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTRYING TO DEFINE AI IN ALL ITS GUISES - THREAT OR BENEFIT - OPTIMISM OR WORRYIn the last episode, the dynamic duo (Rob and Toby) started to talk about the emergence of AI, and this week, we continued the conversation to try and put some definition to AI. And we also tried (but failed) to stay grounded and not get dragged into the stratosphere around AI.Anyway, this week's podcast was more serious than others as we sub-categorised AI into Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Narrow AI, General AI and Super AI; and that's probably just touching the surface.We also tried to understand our personal position (as intelligent laypersons) on w...2023-11-1725 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyM&A TOOLS - ARE WE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE A MASSIVE LEAP FORWARD?Robert and Toby often get together like old men on a park bench, to discuss a variety of topics. Some of them become podcasts, others don't. And sometimes one topic sparks a discussion on something different. That was the case recently when the dynamic duo was trying to get their heads around AI and what impact it is/will have on the world of M&A. It was from that discussion we asked ourselves what tools are currently used to manage M&A transactions and we concluded that the technology is not much more than a spreadsheet o...2023-11-0725 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyM&A PIRATES AND BURIED TREASUREThere is one certainty in life and that is if you choose any metaphor, Toby Tester can link it to M&A, and he doesn't even blink.In today's podcast, Toby manages to draw a distinction between the behavioral characteristics of pirates of old and those of several modern-day corporate heavyweights such as Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, and Lord Hansen. Toby's view is that just like pirates of old, modern-day pirates possess a number of valuable behavioral traits i.eDare to think like a pirateDare to do things differentlyDon’t listen to naysayers.Surround yourself wi...2023-11-0125 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyIN THE BEGINNING - WHERE DID M&A START?To start with a tongue in cheek disclaimer: If we've offended any Corporate Lawyers or Investment Bankers in the recording of this podcast, we did so with gusto and enjoyed having a dig at your expense :-) But enough of that. When and where did the term M&A originate?We use the term M&A freely as part of everyday language, but when and where did it all start. Our dastardly duo jump into their time machine and head back to 1602 when the Dutch India Company was formed and became the first truly recognised 'corporate entity'. F...2023-10-2427 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyThey're Back! THE DEADLY DUE HAVE RETURNED FROM THEIR ENFORCED HIATUSJust when you thought it was safe. Just when enough time had elapsed that you thought the future was safe and secure - - - THEY'RE BACK!Yes, after a hiatus of 12 months, the deadly duo of Robert Heaton and Toby Tester have returned to their popular podcast with even more M&A Stories.Today's episode is just an introduction to give you a flavour of what we will talk about. As always, our intention is to share our experiences, provoke thought and conversation and help other practitioners who are about to embark on an M...2023-10-1516 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE TOP FIVE POST DEAL QUESTIONS FOR ANY CEOIt's the first podcast for 2023 from your hosts Rob and Toby and in this episode, Toby focuses on the top 5 post-close questions a CEO needs to ask on any deal. But before we start let's put the CEO's task into perspective. He's just spent the best part of last year focused on the deal, the constant back-and-forth conversations, the massive efforts around due diligence, the stress of negotiating the final deal value, and then the task of ensuring that all the legalities are properly managed and signed of etc etc.There is, of course, the short-term elation wh...2023-02-0321 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyLOOKING BACK ON SOME OF THE MOST DISASTROUS M&A TRANSACTIONSWell, this podcast was recorded in late November 2022, but a quick hospital visit so Rob could undergo full knee replacement surgery meant that we didn't publish until early January 2023. Still, knee surgery was successful, so here goes. And to help you navigate this episode, we refer to past episodes where we unpack some seriously disastrous M&A transactions, so if you want to know more about the detail of each of our 'top 5' then you'll find the links hereTwitter HP and Autonomy Daimler Benz and Chr...2023-01-0225 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyMORE INSIGHTS FROM PTS CONSULTING. YOU HAVE TO BE A CONTRIBUTOR TO THE DEAL STRATEGY IF YOU WANT TO ADD VALUEIn this 2nd episode with PTS Consulting, we pick up with Barry Lewington and Hugh Van Wijk where we left off. but take time to delve deeper into some of the critical success factors in managing technology transition or transformation during M&A.Seasoned M&A professionals won't be surprised the hear that technology itself isn't the most important element. In fact it doesn't appear on Barry and Hugh's top four recommendationsBe involved from the beginning and make sure you have an advisors seat at the leadership tableMake sure that you are a contributor to...2022-11-2338 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyA CONVERSATION WITH PTS CONSULTING FOCUSING ON TECHNOLOGY IN M&AIn today's episode, I'm joined by Barry Lewington and Hugh Van Wijk from PTS Australia to talk about their experiences in managing the technology integration (or separation) aspects of M&A. We will be recording more podcasts with PTS in the future but from today's episode, there are several takeaways from our conversation.Technology integration can be a large part of any M&A integration and in most cases, it can be complex and involve many moving parts.The technology per se is a small part of the issue, people, governance, data and operations security, transition services agreements (T...2022-11-1835 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglySHOULD YOU INTEGRATE OR INFUSE YOUR M&A DEAL? THERE ARE ARGUMENTS FOR BOTHIn today's episode, Rob and Toby continue the conversation about 'infusion', the art of purposely planning the deal as a value-add exercise and being committed to adjusting your operating model to 'infuse' the best of both sides. Rob and Toby kick off by proposing that traditional integration is what we refer to as 'scale deals' ie: bolting two entities together so the end result is more efficient, but principally a larger version of the two originating parts. Scope deals on the other hand are about setting out to 'fuse' the best parts of each business...2022-11-1528 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE ART OF ENGINEERED INFUSIONWell, Toby's back from his quest to conquer Spain and Malta, and he's fresh with renewed enthusiasm. So much so that he has invoked Alice in Wonderland and Alice's conversation with the Cheshire Cat to demonstrate his thought processes. I'll let you, the listener find that delightful snippet.In this episode, Rob and Toby revisit a familiar theme that proposes that the outcome of any M&A deal must be greater than the sum of the two individual parts. We start by looking at traditional M&A integration of "bolting things together" and surmise that this results...2022-10-2328 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE CULTURAL PROMISE IN M&A WITH GUEST ANIRVAN SENWith Toby on vacation in Europe, I've had the opportunity to bring in a guest to the podcast, and I'm delighted that fellow M&A professional Anirvan Sen has joined me to talk about his experiences managing cultural change in M&A environments.In today's podcast, we unpack our thoughts that culture is a leadership responsibility and that it is the culmination of many different aspects that make up corporate culture. Everything from rewards and recognition, communication style (internal and external) your approach to innovation, and lots more. So much so that Anirvan and his team have d...2022-10-0637 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTOBY'S JOURNEY FROM MBA TO M&A - HIGHLIGHTS OF AN ENJOYABLE CAREERIn the last episode, we delved into Rob's background and how he got started in M&A. The tables have been turned, and it's Toby's turn to wallow under the spotlight.We learn quickly that Toby's first M&A experience was after joining a Financial Services business and leveraging his project management expertise. And he realized this was something he enjoyed doing because it allowed him to utilize his skills and expertise across the whole of the business. As Toby puts it, he became bilingual and could speak the language of every department at every l...2022-08-3133 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyBEING IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME - HOW ROB GOT STARTED IN M&AThe dynamic duo aka Rob and Toby have spent many episodes talking about their respective M&A experiences, but we've never talked about how it all started. Rob is slightly embarrassed about opening the kimono, but as he explains in this episode, it started with his ability to regularly be in the wrong place at the right time. By that, Rob means that he was often asked to pick up 'special' projects and didn't know how to say No.But if you listen to this episode, you'll quickly understand that Rob's start in M&A was a t...2022-08-2229 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyEXPLORING VALUE CREATION - INNOVATION VERSUS THE BLEEDING OBVIOUSSo in today's episode, Robert and Toby continue their conversation around value creation in M&A, but this time taking a more philosophical approach to the factors that impact the desire to go after value that is beyond what Rob defines as the 'bleeding obvious'By 'bleeding obvious' Rob is alluding to the usual synergies, cost reductions, and efficiencies that result from typical M&A deals, and whilst achieving these can be stressful on the organization, the pathway is based on proven methodologies that are well trodden.But then there is the innovative value that...2022-08-0131 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHREE PHASES OF VALUE IN M&A - PROTECTION - CREATION - INNOVATIONYou might recall in the last podcast, that Robert and Toby got on a roll in talking about value creation during post-M&A integration so you won't be surprised that this is the topic for today's podcast.The Dastardly Duo hold firm to their belief that insufficient attention is paid to real value opportunities beyond what Rob describes as the 'bleeding obvious' And you'll hear Toby berate Rob for not respecting the huge amount of work that goes into identifying value opportunities.But I digress because in this episode Rob and Toby...2022-07-1230 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTOBY'S PHILOSOPHICAL RANT - DON'T JUST SPREADSHEET IT - ENGINEER ITJust occasionally, Rob and Toby get into the groove and thoroughly enjoy their chosen 'topic de jour' and today was one of those events. The dynamic duo decided it was time to explore the principle of creative value during M&A. And what do we mean by that?Well, a lot of post-deal value creation is what Rob calls the 'Bleeding Obvious' and what Toby prefers to call Combinational Synergy Value (he's always had a way with words, that lad) It's the value derived by spreadsheet jockeys mulling over the post-deal financial data. Then there's th...2022-06-0731 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyROB AND TOBY GET EMOTIONALIn today's podcast, Rob and Toby start to discuss the impact that positive and negative emotions can have on the success of any M&A integration. And to be clear, we are not talking about the bigger picture of 'culture' although that does have some bearing on the topic.What we are talking about are those situations where emotions such as fear, envy, anger, frustration (clearly all negative) and elation, enthusiasm, comfort, and certainty (positive) start to appear in both individuals and groups as they react to the news of the merger/acquisition.Rob expresses a...2022-05-2630 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyELON MUSK AND TWITTER - ARE WE ABOUT TO SEE A WIKI TWEET?In today's episode, Rob and Toby attempt to make sense of Elon Musk's $44Bn acquisition of Twitter. Attempt is the operative word here because only Elon musk knows why he's doing this so all Rob and Toby can do is offer some thoughts and speculation.What we do agree on is that this isn't just a pure social crusade by any stretch and there is most likely a business model in Elon's head that he thinks can monetize Twitter. And one of the thoughts that we offer is maybe Musk has a 2 step approach where step 1 is t...2022-05-1826 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDO YOU WANT A SPAC?When Toby first raised this as a podcast topic, I was immediately taken back to a phrase that my mother would use when I'd misbehaved, but it turns out Toby was talking about something completely different.What Toby was talking about was an alternative investment vehicle for targeted acquisition(s). According to Dr. Google, A SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) is a company that has no commercial operations and is formed strictly to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO) or the purpose of acquiring or merging with an existing company.Disclaimer: N...2022-05-0322 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE NOTION OF FRAUD AND ITS IMPACT IN EVERYDAY M&A DEALSIn recent episodes, Rob and Toby have started to look at M&A fraud and certainly, the HP Autonomy deal was on a massive scale, as was Theranos. And here in Australia, we are just starting to unravel the Ponzi scheme of Melissa Craddick. But those are all massive frauds that captured almost global attention. But what about the risk of uncovering fraud in everyday M&A? And maybe it's not fraud in the strict sense but more likely dodgy practices, knowing turning a blind eye, engrained revenue recognition practices? How can you identify these sorts of beh...2022-04-1728 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHERANOS - THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHESIf you listened to the press this past year you must have heard snippets about Elizabeth Holmes, the young, attractive and charismatic CEO of Theranos, and how she fleeced rich and savvy people out of almost a billion dollars. It's a topic that Rob and Toby have been mulling over recently and particularly wondering just where in the journey did Elizabeth turn to fraudulent claims and did she do so knowingly?From what we know, she started out with a genuine vision/dream to disrupt the blood-testing industry with a machine that could provide blood analysis from a...2022-03-2323 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyREVISITING HP'S DISASTROUS ACQUISITION OF AUTONOMYYou might remember in a previous podcast towards the end of 2021, that Robert and Toby discussed HP's disastrous acquisition of Autonomy and the huge accounting scandal that unfolded. Well, the reality is that repercussions are still being felt more than 10 years later and there are criminal prosecutions that have resulted in a jail term for the CFO. Added to that, a recently approved application should see Autonomy founder Mike Lynch extradited to face charges in the US. He's fighting the extradition as we speak, but if a trial goes ahead he is almost certain to face a prison sentence.2022-03-0122 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE STRANGE COMPLEXITIES OF AN M&A INTEGRATION MANAGERTHE DASTARDLY DUO ARE BACK!!!! Welcome to the first podcast of 2022What do you get when you cross a project manager with a psychologist and a schizophrenic? The answer, is a very effective M&A Integration Manager, at least that's the view of the Dastardly Duo aka Robert Heaton and Toby Tester in the very first podcast of 2022.Why such a description? Well in today's podcast Robert and Toby explore how an integration manager must be able to deliver the expected value from the deal, operate and communicate at e...2022-02-1332 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE VERY LAST PODCAST FROM ROBERT AND TOBY - - MAYBERobert and Toby first decided to record this podcast when COVID forced everyone into lockdown. That was 18 months ago and the dastardly duo has recorded 62 episodes on every facet of M&A.We both have other pressures to deal with now that COVID is taking a backseat (we hope) so for the time being, this is the very last podcast - or maybe the last podcast of 2021. Who knows what 2022 will deliver.So in this last episode, we've looked back on the past 18 months and summarised what we talked about and what we've learned. IT'S...2021-12-1335 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyCHOOSE THE RIGHT LEADERSHIP STYLE FOR SUCCESS IN M&ARobert and Toby have always extolled the quality of leadership as being fundamental to M&A success and most listeners would agree that executing the right deal and developing the vision and strategy for the business are core values that you would expect from any leadership team. But what about when the deal is closed and it's time to integrate the new acquisition and turn that vision into strategic and operations reality? That's where another level of leadership is required and Toby argues that there are four distinct leadership types, and each has attributes that can be beneficial or...2021-11-0834 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyEXPLORING THE NECESSITY FOR LEADERSHIP TO BE COMPETENT AT EVERY LEVEL OF THE BUSINESSLeadership is an endless topic and this time around Robert and Toby examine M&A Leadership at the CEO level. Robert kicks off by giving two examples. #1 is a CEO who is a high-risk taker but has charmed the board, shareholders, and Wall Street with his daring acquisition strategy but is never seen to engage below the C suite level. #2 is a CEO who has a steady and consistent relationship with the board and shareholders but is also highly visible at operational levels and with customers.The question that Robert and Toby raise is which of...2021-10-0325 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyLEADERSHIP AND ITS MANY DISGUISESLeadership is one of those topics that is really hard to wrap your head around because, in Robert and Toby's opinion, Leadership isn't just the person with the grandest title at the top of the tree, Leadership is invested in many people through every facet of an organization.That is particularly true in Mergers and Acquisitions where Leadership should be demonstrated by different people at varying stages of the M&A deal cycle.In this episode we unpick the leadership responsibilities of all the key players starting with the Chairperson, then the CEO, Corporate Development...2021-09-1736 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyWHAT IS LEADERSHIP? ARE GOOD LEADERS SIMPLY BORN THAT WAY?In this latest podcast, Robert and Toby have pivoted away from M&A disaster stories and moved towards an examination of leadership? Why you might ask.Well, in all of Robert and Toby's experience, good leadership (or bad leadership for that matter) has been the instrumental factor in whether an acquisition is successful. So that got the dastardly duo thinking about what exactly defines leadership? Are good leaders simply born that way or can people be developed into leadership?The answer is both. Leaders are born and bred, in a combination of nurture building on...2021-08-3127 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyGOOGLE BUYS AND SELLS MOTOROLA IN LESS THAN 2 YEARSAnother acquisition dissected by the dastardly duo of Toby Tester and Robert Heaton and this week it's Google's $12.5Bn acquisition of Motorola. A deal which they then sold to Lenovo less than 2 years later, for $2.9Bn.On the first examination, this looks like a disaster, but in reality, Google came out of this break-even. Why? because Motorola had $3.2Bn in cash, the sale to Lenovo offered Google a $2.5Bn tax benefit and they retained 17,000: Yes, you read that correctly - Seventeen Thousand patents valued at $5.5Bn that would help Google see off challenges to its Android platform.2021-08-1718 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglySPRINT AND NEXTEL - A RECIPE FOR SUCCESSFULLY LOSING $30 BILLION IN THREE YEARSYou might have thought that Robert and Toby would have run out of M&A disaster stories by now? Oh, Ye of little faith. THis week we explore Sprint's majority shareholding acquisition of Nextel to try and unpack how a $35 Billion investment in 2005, resulted in a $30 Billion write-off just three years later.The deal vision made sense and there were significant economies and efficiencies to make the combined business a challenging #3 globally to AT&T and Verizon. Better still, there was significant cross-sell opportunities between Sprint's typical consumer customers and Nextel's B2B customers. Well it made s...2021-07-2730 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDAIMLER-CHRYSLER MERGER OF EQUALS - FROM $35bn to $7.4bn IN NINE YEARSThis week Robert and Toby discuss the failed 'merger. between automotive giants Chrysler and Daimer-Benz. On paper this was supposed to be a win-win. The $36 Billion 'Merger of Equals' was supposed to raise Benz's market share in the U.S. auto market. Chrysler was supposed to improve its vehicles through Daimler-Benz' car expertise and the combined strength of Daim;er-Chrysler would stave off competition from the Japanese and deliver synergies and other benefits worth $8 Billion Nine years later PE Group Cerberus paid $7.4B for Chrysler. This is a fifth of the price paid. Chrysler was demerged and...2021-07-2030 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyALCATEL LUCENT: THE TYRANNIES OF DISTANCE, LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND PERSONALITIES A Frenchman and an American walk into a bar and over pissaladière and fried chilli chicken wings come up with the idea of working together and operating efficiently from their respective home turf to compete cost effectively with competitors from China and Asia Pacific. What could possibly go wrongOn face value, the merger of Alcatel and Lucent was a necessity to ward off serious global competition from Huawei and other telecom competitors. The combined strength of both organisations made sense and joining their respective technologies even more so. BUT - dig down under the...2021-07-1533 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyORACLES ACQUISITION OF PEOPLESOFT - LARRY ELLISON AT HIS FINESTIn today's episode Robert draws on personal experience of Oracles acquisition of Peoplesoft and subsequently J.D.Edwards. Robert was part of J.D.Edwards global leadership at the time so watched this deal evolve from the inside. And whilst his career suffered as a result (Oracle removed the J.D.Edwards leadership team) Robert has to admire the brilliance of Ellison's strategy and execution.This was Larry Ellison at his finest. He saw Peoplesoft and J.D.Edwards agreeing-to merge and pounced one week later with a hostile takeover bid. Despite protestations and legal challenges from Pe...2021-07-0634 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyAOL + TIME WARNER - HOW TO SPEND $350 BILLION AND LOSE $99 BILLION IN TWO YEARSRobert & Toby continue to unpack some of the worst M&A deals in corporate history and this week it's the disastrous $350 Billion merger / acquisition between AOL and Time Warner.On the surface, this 1999 deal was the stuff of dreams and it made a lot of sense in many ways BUT - This was DOT.COM era, the bubble had just burst and high speed broadband internet was rapidly replacing Time Warners dial up modem technology. Worse still, the dream was never transformed into a clear vision. Significant cultural differences were completely ignored and there was a significant...2021-07-0635 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyHEWLETT PACKARD'S 2011 DISASTROUS ACQUISITION OF AUTONOMYLast week we asked the question Could it get any worse? Well, Toby has excelled as usual and the acquisition of Autonomy must go down in history as one of the worst, most value-destroying deals in the history of the Tech Industry and Corporate America.This story is a bit like “Air Crash Investigations”. It’s not just one factor that conspired in a complete M&A disaster, but a number. Let’s list them:A CEO desperate to make a deal and rushed the processTwo diametrically opposing cultures:A large unwieldy and bureaucratic buyerAn...2021-06-1637 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyFRED THE SHRED AND A RIGHT ROYAL M&A DISASTERIn the past weeks, we've been reviewing some thew worst M&A disasters in corporate history and this week I think Toby has found one of, if not THE worst M&A disaster in corporate history.This was Royal Bank of Scotland's disastrous takeover of Dutch Bank, ABN Amro in 2007 and not only was it a massive disaster for Royal Bank of Scotland, it almost brought the UK economy to its knees. Bottom line, it had ALL the hallmarks of a recipe for guaranteed disaster:An egocentric bully in the CEO's chair...2021-06-0825 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyEBAY'S DISASTROUS AND COSTLY ACQUISITION OF SKYPERobert and Toby continue to unpack some of the most disastrous M&A deals in corporate history. This week it's EBay's costly and disastrous acquisition of Skype. Her's the dot-points.Ebay thought it could leverage Skype to provide a voice and video channel for its customers and sellers to communicate. What they didn't do was talk to their customers, because they would have learned that EBay customers want anonymity and were perfectly happy with messaging and email communication - and they still are today!For whatever reason, EBay paid $2.3Bn for what was a $7M start-up in 2005 and...2021-06-0321 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyYAHOO'S M&A MURDER OF FLICKRWe continue to unpack some of history's M&A disasters and this week Toby delves into what he calls YAHOO's Murder of Flickr.This story kicks off in 2003 during the early years of the internet when Flickr was a fledgling start-up desperately needing a larger partner to accelerate the innovation and seize what could have been a massive transformational opportunity. On paper Yahoo looked like the ideal partner but in reality the partnership was ambushed by Corporate Development who were intent on treating the deal like any other M&A integration. As a result, the n...2021-05-2523 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE STARS ALIGN - TOLL GLOBAL EXPRESS + CHRISTINE HOLGATE + ALLEGRO EQUITYThe recent announcement that Japan Post have finally unloaded Toll's Global Express to Apollo Equity Partners will bring a sigh of relief in Japan Post's boardroom and a wry smile to the face of Apollo's Leadership. Better still, the appointment of Christine Holgate as Global Express' CEO is a smack in the teeth for Australia Post. Watch this space (if you will excuse the pun)Robert and Toby are by no means experts on the initial acquisition of Toll Group by Japan Post and the debacle that followed, but in today's episode we do try and pick th...2021-05-1327 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyM&A PRINCIPLES MADE SIMPLE - EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE - COMFORT OR PANIC ?We've set out on a quest to narrow down M&A to a set of key principles that can be expressed in one line statements. It's a work in progress, but Toby sets out an example to get the conversation startedWe follow this up with a conversation about that feeling of either certain confidence or get wrenching uneasiness that you might get as you review your progress in an M&A deal. Some call it Emotional Intelligence, but what is it exactly? And as usual we finish up with three further quotes from the L...2021-05-0624 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTOBY'S PREDICTION COMES TRUE + MURPHY'S LAW AND SIXTH SENSE M&AToby's prediction from 6 months ago comes true as he shares the news that Westpac will use divestitures to drive a massive 21% annual savings across the business. We discuss how this will be a repeat pattern as other businesses re-focus on their core strengths and aim to build protection from post COVID experiences and also deliver stronger returns to shareholders.Robert introduces the principles of Murphy's Law and Sixth Sense in M&A using a very recent deal collapse where Murphy's law intervened at the final moment. And his sixth Sense commentary is around that ability t...2021-05-0624 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglySPAC's - THE KISS PRINCIPLE - AND PLENTY MORE.After riding his bike up the side of a mountain, Toby's endorphins kicked in and he has proposed a great idea. You can learn more from listening to this podcast and we would welcome any contributions you might make.M&A Integration is about keeping it simple but as Einstein says "you've got to make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler" and it's this topic that Robert and Toby explore.Then just as we thought we had simplicity nailed, Robert introduces SPAC's. What? I hear you say. Well according to Wikipedia, A SP...2021-04-2224 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyKULTURE AND KOMPLIANCE - TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE.An extended episode today as Robert and Toby are joined by special guest, Daniel Levy from Melbourne based Kidder Williams, to talk about the multi-faceted topic of compliance and the implications on the deal outcome if overlooked. Kidder Williams Providing Corporate Advisory and Investment Banking services to private and ASX-listed companies,We start off by letting Toby have a regular rant, and this week he's having a bellyache about culture and how cultural change should be addressed as an engineering challenge that is resolved by pulling a series of levers. I have to say I agree with...2021-04-1334 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyM&A INTEGRATION IS THE ENEMY OF INNOVATIONAs you might expect, Robert and Toby unpack several topics in today's conversation.We kick off by asking if inspirational leaders are good for business? Not always it seems, especially if that 'inspiration' is driven by ego or is associated with excessive risk taking. And inspirational leaders can also be of little value if they only influence a small audience.Once we finish this topic, it's time for Toby to have a rant, M&A Integration is the enemy of innovation says Toby and boy, isn't he on target? The core premise of Toby's rant i...2021-04-1227 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDales Stevens - Inspirational Leaders are not just born that way. I am joined today by real life. Bonafide London trained actor, Dale Stevens Dale has played the role of an assassin in mission possible and as a detective in blue healers, but today she prefers to use that creativity to grow influence in the people that she coaches she uses her extensive experience in theatre, film, and TV to inform her unique approach to coaching where she emphasises the importance of 'being present' to create powerful messaging that inspires new behaviours.Dale brings this podcast episode to life with her thoughts and experiences and she lea...2021-04-0633 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE VALUE CAPTURE DISCONNECT & TOBY'S RECHARGED CRYSTAL BALLIn last week's topic we unpacked the myth of M&A failure rates and this week, Toby expands on the discussion to talk about the deal value disconnect whereby what was envisaged when the deal was crafted, is often very different to what post deal activities uncover. We offer some thoughts as to why this might be the case but we'd welcome your thoughts and experiences.We then move on. Toby's crystal ball has been recharged and we gaze gleefully to offer some insights into the volume and appetite for M&A deals across 2021. And we have...2021-03-2323 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyLIES, STATISTICS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE80% of all M&A deals fail is the cry you often hear and Toby takes this apart to show stats from recent surveys demonstrating that in reality, most deals are successful, but they have to be measured in terms of Strategic success, Financial Success and Operational success.We then move on to talk about Artificial Intelligence (or Intelligent systems as Toby prefers to call it). Does AI have a strong role in M&A transactions? Well maybe, but it's still in its infancy and we will talk about this topic more in weeks to come....2021-03-2024 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyNEWS -LATEST TRENDS - CAPABILITY DEALS - TRAINING AND MOREIt's the second episode with our new format and Robert brings up a recent Financial Review post that suggests there will be significantly less 'strategic' M&A deals because companies are focused on getting back to post COVID normal. As you might expect, Toby is dubious (as is Robert to some degree so we've published the link here so you can form your own opinions Toby continues to examine trends that suggest 2021 and beyond are going to be bumper years for M&A (although economist predictions can often be wildly wrong)Then we introduce the to...2021-03-0618 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyA NEW FORMAT FOR 2021After the Christmas hiatus, The Dastardly Duo of Rob and Toby are back and they are trying a new format for the M&A War Stories podcast. In today's episode Rob and Toby reflect on trends in M&A deals, they have a rant about how the impact of culture in deals is often misunderstood and mismanaged and then they change gear and examine the recent acquisition of ME Bank by Bank of Queensland.We hope you enjoy the new format as much as we enjoy recording it - but we are quite certain our listeners will l...2021-02-2822 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyREFLECTIONS ON LEADERSHIP AND A LOOK BACK ON 2020It's our last podcast for 2020 and your hosts on M&A War Stories, Toby Tester and Robert Heaton reflect on the common theme of leadership that has been a constant throughout all of our podcasts.We also look back on which topics have been out individual favourites and we leave our listeners with six key takeaways for the year.We'd like to wish all our listeners around the world the very best for the festive season and our hopes that you each spend quality time with friends and family.We'll be back in 2021...2020-12-1627 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyART OR SCIENCE - DO WE DO ENOUGH TO DEVELOP OUR SENIOR LEADERS?In this week's story Robert and Toby talk about an experience with a senior executive who’s rapid career success elevated him to the ‘big chair’ but confronted him with a woe some lack of preparedness for the people, responsibilities and accountability that he now faced.We’ll start 12 years back when a young sales guy walked into his new job with an eagerness to succeed. It wasn’t long before he had demonstrated a natural ability for sales and it was no surprise when he was promoted to a sales m...2020-12-0823 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyARE YOU RESPONSIBLE OR ACCOUNTABLE?Some 20 years ago Toby Tester had the good fortune to study Existentialism as part of his MBA at Macquarie University. Apart from being what he thought was a pretty cool subject at the time, the existentialist view on responsibility continues to resonate with him to this day. It's a type of responsibility that's deep, introspective and uncompromising. People need to go forth into the world with a moral and psychological responsibility for literally everything they say and do. As...2020-12-0226 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyWHAT WOULD YOU DO?In this episode of M&A War Stories, I put Toby Tester under pressure with a theoretical scenario Imagine this? You're a technology business and in the past three years one of your regions has made 2 acquisitions that are aimed at enhancing the products and services that you can offer to clients. You will also ‘acquire’ some new customers as a result of these acquisitions. To date, you haven’t integrated those acquisitions into your core business but you have had some sales success selling cross business products into your existing customer base.Your board has just...2020-11-2628 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyARE YOU READY FOR SUCCESSFUL DIVESTMENT?The economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic is likely to unleash a wave of deals as companies look to offload business units to help generate cash, strengthen the balance sheet and become more resilient to what may be a more turbulent future. It’s during a crisis, like we have now, where organisations need to refocus their business and think about where they are going to invest. Divestitures can be a highly profitable way of selling assets that, for whatever reason, are no longer core, and use the capital raised where it’s most n...2020-11-1727 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyCUSTOMER SERVICE ON ANOTHER LEVELThis isn’t a story about M&A as such but it’s a story about customer service that left its mark on me and several other people at the time. It also delivers powerful lessons for M&A practitioners about the need to ensure customer service levels are maintained during and after post deal integration.The occasion was a Board meeting in San Francisco. It was 7:00pm and the only item left on the agenda was where to hold the staff Christmas dinner that year. We didn’t really have any firm ideas so the i...2020-11-1115 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyONE MAN'S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN'S TREASUREThis story is something I observed whilst completing a project for a large multinational pharmaceutical and CPG company. My role was to advise on the global consolidation of manufacturing and other business services so the situation I’m about to tell was just something I observed at close hand, because I happened to be there at the time.This company manufactured feminine hygiene products and because of the personal nature of those products, manufacturing standards and quality assurance criteria had to be extremely high. As a result, reject levels between 40% and 60% were not unusual.2020-11-0318 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDRIVING TRANSFORMATION THROUGH M&ARob and Toby discuss their views that M&A should increasingly be seen as a vehicle to drive real transformation in a business and not just a transactional process to achieve cost reduction and operating synergies.M&A as a means to transforming a business is a powerful mechanism that delivers real and lasting value, but it requires vision and leadership as catalysts of change.Throughout this episode, Rob and Toby share their experiences of the key components to driving transformational value through M&A 2020-10-2729 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE CASE OF THE MISSING TROUSERSWe're still on the topic of M&A, but in this episode we detour to an hilarious story with a sobering lesson. The story is set in the backdrop of a slap up meal to celebrate a successful acquisition AND three years of significant business growth.At the height of these celebrations, the CFO somehow managed to lose his trousers and his embarrassment is revealed in the story tellingThe lesson of course is that as senior leaders, our behaviour needs to set example and that applies both internally and externally, especially if you consider that in...2020-10-2016 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE IMPORTANT ROLE OF QUALITY GOVERNANCE AND FINANCIALSIn this podcast we are joined by Daniel Levy from Kidder Williams a Corporate Advisory firm providing Investment Banking services to private and ASX-listed companies, including:Corporate Finance StrategyMergers & acquisitionsDivestments and demergersCapital structureEquity and debt raisingsIPOsDaniel outlines his experiences where poor governance and amateur level finance preparation has resulted in significant changes to company valuation, and placed the entire deal in jeopardy. This again is another story where the key lesson is 'pay attention to details and accuracy. But as Daniel points out this can't be something that's done in the 3-6 months leading t...2020-10-1320 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyEASY MATHS: PREPARATION + PREPARATION = MORE VALUEAttracting a price premium for a divestiture comes down to three things: preparation, preparation and preparation. More preparation; more value. Background: A UK listed engineering business brought Toby in to help them acquire a global computer analytics business put up for sale by the parent firm. The buyer saw a unique opportunity to complement cutting-edge computer analytics with their current business offerings. Unlike previous acquisitions the buyer had made, this deal was special. It represented a one-in-a-lifetime transformational opportunity to reposition themselves in the market as a d...2020-10-1110 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE PERILS OF FOSS IN A TECH INDUSTRY ACQUISITIONWe've got special guest Ben Kenyon from North Cyber Security joining this week, and Ben goes into the technical realm of FOSS (Free Open Source Software) to outline the importance of software IP and checking source code for external or 3rd party licences that might have been used to build the software.Developers often use other people's code to help build their own software quicker and while that might be efficient, there has to be a system in place to verify that developers have used code with the appropriate licences.It's not always the...2020-09-2217 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE POSITIVE BENEFITS OF CREATIVE FINANCINGIn this episode we are joined by our guest, Ted Leverette - The Original Buyer Advocate from "Partner" On Call Network LLC, based in Palm Beach, Florida. In this story, Ted walks through an example of Acquisition Creative Financing—After Gaining Control. It’s a deal he arranged for a buyer who didn’t have enough down payment cash to buy the company. Thanks to a cooperative seller, and the buyer being willing to pay a fair price for the company, after completion of the transaction, the buyer used the business to quickly create cash and incre...2020-09-1911 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTOBY GETS SERIOUS ABOUT THE IMPORTANT TOPIC OF TSA'SWith apologies upfront. COVID-19 gremlins caused some sound quality issues in the last segment of this episode. We hope we will be forgiven.And we get serious this week so you could consider this episode a free training program.TRANSITIONAL SERVICE AGREEMENTS (TSA's) are legal / financial instruments typically used during carve-outs where certain services (read IT systems, payroll, asset leases, production capacity etc) are provided by the seller, to the buyer for a defined period after deal close.The goal of both parties is to get the deal completed...2020-09-1523 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyA DASTARDLY PLANThis is more a story about a restructure rather than a merger of acquisition, but the decisions that were enacted apply just as easily to M&A. The headline of this story is that you should not ignore the impact that your decisions have on people.This was a large UK manufacturing business with a new CEO who was keen to overhaul the business, reduce costs, increase productivity and boost profits. A series of initiatives had been set in motion and there was change taking place everywhere. I have strong m...2020-09-1022 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyUSE THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION FOR A SUCCESSFUL M&A MARRIAGEIn this episode, our guest is Linley Watson, Founder and CEO Peak Performance International and author of “Avoiding the M&A Failure Club”. Peak Performance is a leading Australasian people and culture consultancy with team members in Australia and New Zealand and a wide network of associates across the globe. https://www.peakperformance.com.au/Linley offers her view that good communication is a critical component in any change initiative, especially during a merger or acquisition. When bringing people from different teams or organisations together, much of the fear, uncertainty and the resulting resistance to change can be r...2020-09-0325 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyM&A Zombie ArmageddonJust when you thought it impossible to get M&A and Zombies in the same podcast, Toby comes along to prove everyone wrong.In this podcast he returns to his favourite topic of Deal Fever, presenting the view that some deals go REALLY wrong and that is always because the acquiring company ignores the three core principles of Purpose, Process and Planning. And when they do, they start to act in a Zombie like state where the deal is being done to satisfy huge ego's or just for the sake of it, and when that happens those...2020-08-2422 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTREATING M&A LIKE A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGEIn this episode, our guest is Norman Wolfe, founder and CEO of Quantum Leaders, a 15 year veteran of Hewlett Packard and author of The Living Organization, an application of the core principles of how the world works and how organisations can create extraordinary impact.Norman's view is that most M&A fail because they are treated transactionally, and while that's a necessary baseline, successful acquisitions must be treated like a good marriage where relationship and context are key factors that bring about a transformation of the core paradigm of business.A fascinating story and some...2020-08-1927 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyREFLECTIONS ON DIVESTMENT MISTAKESAs we look towards to possible end to COVID-19, there is general acceptance that we will see a rise in divestments, both out of necessity because of distressed assets, but also from strategic adjustments.In this episode, Toby goes back in time to reflect on his first divestiture. This was a large separation impacting almost 1,000 people and a post divestment review idetified 14 key lessons for future divestments.Toby talks about his experiences and leaves us with three key areas that he concludes must be tackled up frontGet the Governance rightGet...2020-08-1020 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyGETTING MONET AND PICASSO TO PLAY NICELY TOGETHERIn this week's story, we continue with the Sales Integration theme but explore a Food & Beverage acquisition where despite best practice from the leadership team, a few Brand Managers attempted to throw post deal progress off the rails. And then just as this 'sabotage' arose, another culture war erupted in Marketing.This story outlines how strong leadership in the business recognised these as seperate challenges, and dealt with one of them swiftly but fairly, whilst turning the other issue into a significant advantage.2020-08-0321 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglySALES INTEGRATION CAN BE THE MOST CRITICAL PART OF YOUR DEALIn the last episode, Toby outlined how some acquisitions have an inside out approach, and the customer is often overlooked, resulting in lost revenue opportunities.In this episode, Robert draws on his extensive sales expertise to outline all of the moving parts that need to be considered post deal in order to ensure that the customer, and revenue growth become a central focus of the deal value creation.And hopefully, you will recognise that it's not a simple process, but if tackled early, it's one that will deliver significant reward.2020-07-2732 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDON'T FORGET THE CUSTOMERSIt can still be surprising that M&A deals continue to focus on an inside out approach such that attention is on financials, processes, systems, people etc. And whilst that's good practice, Toby argues that it's equally important to take an 'outside in' approach that takes the customers needs and expectations into consideration. In this episode, Toby outlines a large deal where on the surface, everything looked well organised, until he realised that the newly acquired customers had been completely neglected.And once customer interests and engagement had been considered, the b...2020-07-2022 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyCOMMUNICATE WITH JOY - THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN M&AWe have the pleasure this week of being joined on our podcast by Global PMI's Stefan Hofmeyer. Stefan is a senior Partner with Global PMI Partners, and a highly experienced M&A practitioner with many successful projects under his belt. Stefan has chosen to talk about why executives and employees alike should be tuned into and practice their emotional intelligence skills. Particularly, Stefan advises that EI is one of the cornerstones of best practice in M&A that can directly impact the post deal outcomes.More over, Stefan goes on to suggest that strong EI p...2020-07-1528 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyWALKING AWAY FROM POOR LEADERSHIPHopefully, the experience relived in this podcast is one that very few people would have experienced. It's concerned with atrocious behaviour by a very senior leader who in the face of tragedy chose to put business before people.The lesson in this week's episode is that we must always treat people with respect and dignity and in fact treat others how you hope to be treated yourself.It's also a lesson that as leaders, we should aim to set the example for others to follow and emulate.2020-07-0622 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE BEAUTY OF SIMPLICITYIn this episode, Toby recalls a complex divestiture that he managed. If the complexity had been left to flourish, it would have created disillusionment and misunderstanding that could send the divestiture completely off the rails.The answer in this case was to bring the complexity down to a series of simple to understand rules, guidelines and expectations that everyone could understand and follow. Let's call them guiding principles.Better still, Toby involved everyone in creation of those 'guiding principles' so they readily owned and complied thus bringing the divestiture to a successful close. 2020-06-2921 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE ART IN M&A OF QUICKLY GETTING TO 'NO'The ability to quickly say “No” is sometimes the best answer in M&A. This is a story about a deal where quickly arriving at “No” was the best outcome.2020-06-2324 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyA DEAL WITHOUT PURPOSE IS LIKE DRIVING WITHOUT A CLEAR DESTINATIONIn this episode, Toby recalls getting involved with a business making its very first acquisition. There was Board approval for the deal and a committed leadership team eager to reap the benefits of their brand new acquisition.All seemed well except for the nagging issue that the deal seemed to lack clear purpose. As Toby points out, there was a lot of attention to the 'WHAT' needed to be done but there was scant attention to understanding the 'WHY'.Without the 'Why' there is no purpose and a deal without clear purpose is like driving...2020-06-1518 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyHAPPY ENDINGS FROM A FAMILY BUSINESS IN CHAOSSet in the beautiful surrounds of the Loire Valley this French engineering firm was a family business started 30 years previously. The founder on his 70th birthday, announced his retirement and gifted the entire business to his loyal employees.This perfect scenario however soon presented some challenges which luckily were resolved and happy endings ensued for everyone. The warning in this story is that this could have so easily gone the other way.2020-06-0823 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDISPELLING M&A MYTHS PART IIDisappointed with the recording quality this week, but that's what you get when you're dealing with COVID-19 restrictions. Better luck next week.Robert and Toby continue to unpack some of the popular myths and half truths about Mergers and Acquisitions. In many cases these myths have some grounding in fact, but when examined properly, they don't convey the atmosphere of risk and disaster that so many want to portray.In reality, these myths and half truths are diluted when some fundamental techniques are adopted.And in this Part II conversation, Robert & Toby concluded...2020-06-0118 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDISPELLING MYTHS AND HALF TRUTHSIn this week's slightly longer episode, Robert and Toby unpack some of the popular myths and half truths about Mergers and Acquisitions. In many cases these myths have some grounding in fact, but when examined properly, they don't convey the atmosphere of risk and disaster that so many want to portray.In reality, these myths and half truths are diluted when some fundamental techniques are adopted.And in this conversation, Robert & Toby concluded that those myths are just that, and that many of the fears or uncertainties are applicable Not just to M&A, but t...2020-05-2522 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyPOLISHING BURIED TREASUREStill on their Divestment journey, Robert and Toby discuss a business sale where initial bids from buyers were well below expectation. But by looking under the covers and digging for 'buried treasure', several areas of potential growth were identified that would be very attractive for future owners. That 'buried treasure (read well qualified and quantified opportunity) increased the attractiveness of the business and ended up attracting a 20% premium over expectations. Bottom line, 3 weeks of effort resulted in $25 Million increased value, so in this case digging for treasure and taking time to polish it certainly paid of...2020-05-1912 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyTHE IMPORTANCE OF SECURING AND PROTECTING IPIn this episode, Robert and Toby discuss the importance of IP in every deal, not only in terms of legal and financial ownership, but also in terms of quality, capability and IP protection.In the highlighted case study pertaining to the software industry, the IP turned out to be vapourware and rendered the deal worthless.Important reading for anyone making acquisitions where IP forms the foundation of the value and important lessons that it's important to dive under the covers and get right down to the detail.2020-05-1122 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDON'T SCUPPER THE DEALIn this episode, Toby explains how he was engaged by the buyer, but ultimately ended up helping the seller. The messages in this are that sellers must put themselves in the shoes of the buyer and make adequate preparation of their business so it can be bought and operated with minimal fuss.In this particular case, the deal did not go ahead for multiple reasons but uppermost was the starting fact that the seller thought that financial and legal separation was sufficient to get the busy sale ready.2020-05-0819 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyDD OR NOT DD - THAT IS THE QUESTION!In this episode, Robert and Toby discuss a Tech Industry acquisition where 'deal fever' resulted in rushed and poor quality due diligence. They discuss the threat this posed to post deal value creation and the steps that were taken to resolve several issues.Overall, Robert & Toby conclude that this acquisition whilst posing some serious value creation challenges, was ultimately the right acquisition for this company and ultimately a strategic success.2020-04-3017 min

M&A STORIES - The Good, The Bad and The UglyBURIED TREASURE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARDIn this 15 minute episode Robert and Toby discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic actually offers a unique opportunity for CEO's and Boards to Reflect, Review, Plan and Prepare the business. This often means recognising that all or part of your business is more valuable in someone else's ownership, and that often results in recognising 'buried treasure' the you didn't realise you had.2020-04-2113 min