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Delivering deal value through people
Organisations are operating in a new M&A environment — one that is much more uncertain and continually evolving. But fundamental principles on reducing uncertainty remain intact. As such, PwC’s Global People in Deals practice has adapted its diligence efforts to reflect this new world. For example, workforce changes, benefits adjustments, and future organisation design all need to be taken into account when looking at potential acquisition targets. At PwC, we support our clients in buying and selling businesses by combining our full range of specialised industry knowledge with our deal experience.
As the deals environment continues to evolve, many organisations may look to acquisitions to find the right talent, technology and ideas to drive innovation and power-up growth.
PwC’s People in Deals build tailored people and organisation solutions to help clients achieve their strategic ambitions - reflecting their uniqueness but also grounded in rigorous analysis and data-driven insight - to create lasting, differentiated value.
We bring together a combination of industry, business, strategy, talent, HR, analytics and technology expertise with more than 7,500 people in 117 countries. That means you can get a team with the right skills and experience wherever you need around the world to help you deliver the value you’re looking for – from people strategy through organisational execution.
“Mergers and acquisitions are key strategic tools that enable organisations to stay ahead in today's complex and highly competitive global market.”
Mischa Borst, People in Deals Co-leader, Partner &
Sarah Tunku Mu’tamir, People in Deals Co-leader, Partner
Employee retention has become harder
Are you retaining the key talent of a target organisation? In many cases before or following a deal, key talent can decide to leave before the Buyer has time to identify them. PwC’s 2023 M&A integration survey found a decrease in respondents reporting “significant success” around employee retention, dropping from 56% in 2010 to 41% in 2022. When an intentional plan is not in place and employees do not understand the future vision of the Buyer, retention of key talent can be a challenge.
How we can help
PwC’s People in Deals professionals work with clients on a full range of transactions, including: acquisitions, divestitures, business restructuring and capital events such as an IPO. They can drive value for clients across the entire transaction cycle:
- Leadership, Talent, & Organisation (LTO) services
- HR due diligence services
- HR pre-close services
- HR post close services
Leadership, Talent, & Organisation (LTO) services
Our Leadership, Talent, and Organisation (LTO) professionals perform strategic leadership, talent, and organisation due diligence and post-close engagements for private equity clients and highly acquisitive corporations. The work identifies potential accelerants or obstacles to achieving an organisation’s value creation plan, providing the acquirer with early insights on how to unlock human-centred value creation, and improve social and financial outcomes. In a number of our engagements, our analysis is developed by engaging with a target company CEO and management team to understand key leadership and organisational capabilities, leadership team dynamics, formal organisational structure and process, informal culture and norms.
HR due diligence services
Our People in Deals professionals help you identify HR issues that affect value. We work to establish and understand critical HR and workforce issues early in the transaction, identify their relevance and enable appropriate protections to be built into documentation. We focus on the Quality of Earnings (Income Statement) and Quality of Assets (Balance Sheet) adjustments which impact the financial proposition underlying the transaction and enable appropriate protections to be built into transaction documentation. We can also provide early insight into culture and other challenges that may pose a threat to realising value.
HR pre-close services
We make sure you’ve got the right people and that your talent is focused on the right things. We work to identify key strategic HR decisions required based on the nature of the transaction, including leveraging HR due diligence to create a thorough project plan that we will manage and execute for each HR functional area and for cross-functional HR activities. We help you to define your leadership team and organisation structure and assess culture and change impact. And we help tie financial implications back to the investment model developed in due diligence and manage the budget.
HR post close services
Our People in Deals practice also focuses on organisational values to reflect your purpose, mission, and vision. We work to deliver a targeted HR solution to enable a smooth Day One and achieve deal goals. We support you across the:
- harmonised HR strategy and organisational structure
- HR technology
- processes and infrastructure
- policy
- design/harmonisation
- workforce onboarding
- culture-led transformation
- stakeholder engagement
- and communications workstreams.
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Contact us
Sarah Moore
People and Organisation Market Leader, Partner, PwC United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 77 3460 7421
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