CHAPTER 5
Practice Management
An M&A advisor takes on a number of roles for his or her client during the course of a transaction and may emerge as the lead from various disciplines within the process. Unlike large corporate finance transactions, where deals are almost exclusively led by the investment banker, middle market deals can be led or shepherded by one of the many professionals active in the process. In reality, that lead professional is routinely chosen by the client based on relationship and experience in knowing whom to trust.
Some of the obvious players whom clients reach out to are those they routinely engage, like their attorney or accountant. And many clients recognize that they need assistance with certain specialized skills for valuation, tax, accounting, and legal issues. In addition, the advisor can also be the financial strategist, the marketer of the business, the deal finder, and, when advising the buyer, the master of due diligence. Some of the less obvious roles that M&A advisors play include operational consultant to help prepare a company for sale, integration manager to assist in combining two businesses, or financial advisor to view the business within the context of the seller's overall portfolio. The successful transition of a company normally takes a multidisciplinary team where one of the members assumes the lead role or becomes the quarterback in the process—this is the M&A advisor.
The following professionals are routinely involved in the M&A ...
