Acquisitions are in some cases the best route to grow and create value, especially when two criteria are met: speed is key and the target segment is relatively mature. But those two factors also create specific risks for acquirers, contributing to the high proportion of failed acquisitions – about one-third to a half, in listed companies, according to large-scale studies. Whereas speed is a stimulating factor and creates focus, rush easily becomes a recipe for poor strategic decision-making. The risk behind segment maturity is less obvious. In a mature segment, data is readily available or at least assumed reliable, veterans and experts are plentiful and eager to explain how well they know the tricks, competition and market dynamics are supposedly well-known.

The acquisition due diligence process becomes a boring routine. Alas, in today’s context, certainties are highly toxic; examples abound where sleepy market segments have been deeply disrupted without notice, while most players failed to anticipate and to make the right turn in time. WMI methodology focuses on strategy as a driver for shareholder value. On top of classical strategic analysis expertise, our entrepreneurial and technology experience helps avoiding complacency on risks and facilitates the research of sound value drivers. WMI offers acquirers a combination of skills and experience to increase likelihood of success, negotiation levers and post-investment value creation, for each envisioned operation in various contexts: external growth, diversification, minority investments.