For Corporate Development & Strategic Acquirers · Integration
The synergy case looks compelling on paper.
Then the logo on the door changes.
We test whether the commercial rationale survives it.
The Integration Gap
The deal model is a synergy assumption dressed as a forecast. Cross-sell, retention and channel reach all look additive on paper. Whether any of it survives a change of owner and integration into your organisation is a different question, and not one a data room answers.
The relationships, contracts and key people you are really buying behave differently once the logo on the door changes. We test whether the commercial rationale survives contact with your organisation: what transfers, what breaks, and what to de-risk before it costs you the synergy case.
The risk: paying a strategic premium for revenue and relationships that do not survive the change of owner.
Our mandate: test whether the acquisition rationale holds inside your organisation, not just in the model.The synergy case assumes the target's pipeline converts into your combined revenue. A material share has been recycling for 12 to 18 months and will not close. Fold it into your forecast and the accretion you underwrote never arrives.
The strategic rationale leans on partnerships and letters of intent presented as momentum. They were never operationally real, and they will not transfer to your organisation. The relationships you thought you were buying were never binding.
The deal model assumes a stable base to cross-sell into. Older cohorts are churning faster than the topline shows. You integrate a customer base that is quietly shrinking, and the cross-sell synergy is built on sand.
A large share of the target's revenue renews within 6 to 12 months of close, straight into the disruption of integration. Change of owner is exactly when customers reassess. The revenue you paid for is most exposed at the worst possible moment.
The commercial relationships you are acquiring run through a founder who may not stay, and may not transfer them if they do. Retention packages buy time, not loyalty. The book of business can walk out with one person.
The target's revenue flows through a channel partner who is now your competitor, or soon will be. Change of ownership can trigger conflict, renegotiation, or exit. The distribution you valued is controlled by someone whose interests just changed.
The acquisition thesis sizes the opportunity off the target's market model. The serviceable, winnable slice is far smaller, and much of it overlaps with what you already own. The incremental market you paid a premium for is thinner than the deck implied.
The strategic value rests on a defensibility story that does not survive a technically literate review. The moat is a replicable feature. Inside your organisation, with your competitors watching, the advantage you paid for erodes faster than the model assumes.
Our Approach
We are not consultants running a survey to feed your integration plan. We are veteran operators who have built, fixed and moved commercial engines between organisations, which is why we know what actually transfers and what does not. We deploy a dual-track methodology across the two places every acquisition thesis breaks: the mathematics and the behaviour. Scope is calibrated to the strategic rationale and the integration decisions ahead of you.
How We Engage
Here is what three days on a target produces, so you know what you are buying before we scope anything.
Every engagement starts at three days. Everything beyond that is built around the deal in front of you, not a fixed package.
The value carries across the change of owner. Underwrite it.
Transfers only if specific integration risks are managed deliberately.
Tied to people, terms, or channels that do not survive the deal.
Where the cheque is larger, the target more complex, or the first findings open a question that needs answering properly, we extend the same methodology rather than switching to a different one. More days buy more depth, more coverage, and more evidence. They do not buy a different product.
Every engagement is built to scope. We agree the questions, the depth, and the timeline against your strategic rationale on an introductory call, then we work to that. No fixed packages, no filler work-streams you did not ask for.
What You Walk Away With
The most useful thing we can give a corporate acquirer is not another synergy model. It is a clear, independent read on which parts of the commercial rationale actually survive the change of owner and the integration.
You receive a concise findings document and a risk-rated view of the commercial reality, mapped to your strategic rationale. What transfers cleanly, we confirm. What is exposed in integration, we show you exactly where, why, and what to de-risk first.
Traditional advisors look in the rear-view mirror. S.L.A.M. is the navigation system.
The revenue, relationships and capabilities that genuinely carry across into your organisation. Underwrite the synergy case on these with confidence.
The parts of the rationale exposed by the change of owner: key people, concentrated contracts, channel conflict. You see the exposure before completion, not after.
The prioritised sequence for the integration plan. The two or three moves that protect the value you are paying for, in the order that matters.
Who We Help
Validate whether the target's revenue story is real before you commit capital, and price the risk you cannot see from the data room.
See moreAn independent read on your own commercial engine, the blind spots you cannot see from inside, and what to fix first.
See moreA clean commercial baseline before you commit management attention and capital to a value-creation plan across the portfolio.
See moreWhether the target's commercial relationships and synergy assumptions survive a change of owner and integration into your business.
Get in Touch
Book a 15-minute call. No obligation. A direct conversation about the target, your strategic rationale, and whether we are the right fit for this acquisition.