Beyond the deal: Making acquisitions work for owner‑managed businesses

For many of our owner-managed business clients, M&A is a key part of their strategy as they redeploy and preserve the owner or family’s wealth, diversify, spread risk, and seek to grow in this uncertain economic environment.

Identifying the right target company and completing the transaction itself is often the relatively easy part. Sure, it may take time to find a suitable business that will support the wider strategy and add value. Equally, there may be hiccups along the way, such as gaps between buyer and seller on valuation, or due diligence uncovering problems that delay or scupper a deal. However, generally there is a process that can be followed and the right advisers will be able to offer solutions that allow for a positive outcome to be reached.

Often, the bigger challenge is the integration of the acquired business post-completion.

Smaller companies generally won’t have the same depth of resource, governance or management. Therefore, the buyer will often need to spend time after the transaction reviewing customer, supplier and partnership agreements, integrating systems, and harmonising employee terms and conditions and so on.

This process can take months or even years – especially when the deal involves an earn out that places limits how the business can be run for a set period of time after the transaction.

However, the bigger hurdle is often cultural. New ownership brings a different tone and expectations, particularly if the relative size of the buyer compared to the target makes for quite an adjustment.

It can also be an uncertain time for employees of the combined businesses, sometimes resulting in an “us” and “them” culture. Meshing teams and getting everyone to row in the same direction, in pursuit of the same objectives, is not always easy. For example, standardising employee terms where that results in perks – such as a hamper at Christmas or getting your birthday as an additional day of annual leave – being removed may not go down well, even where the benefits package as a whole is being improved.

However, it’s also important to remember why the acquired business was bought in the first place. Buyers need to integrate without wrecking existing value – and should keep in mind that learning is a two-way street. The acquired company might have been smaller with less structure, but it may also have been nimbler and often doing a lot of things well.

Are there any learnings or people from the acquired business that could be taken and deployed across the wider group? Or could it show that some of your processes are redundant and a symptom of a “we’ve always done it this way” attitude?

Ultimately, using the merger of two or more companies as an opportunity for fresh thinking will ensure a smoother integration and create a stronger combined business.

This article was originally published in Insider Media, on 27 April 2026.

Related News, Insights & Events