Post-merger integration plan

What it is

The plan for turning two organisations into one, run from the point a deal is agreed rather than from the point it closes. Its whole purpose is to stop the synergy thesis from being quietly abandoned the moment the deal team moves on to the next one, which is where the majority of acquired value is actually lost.

Day one

What visibly changes on the first day for customers, employees and suppliers, and — as important — what deliberately does not change yet. Ambiguity on day one is where trust and key people are lost fastest.

The first hundred days

The sequence of what integrates first, chosen for what unlocks the rest rather than for what is easiest. Systems, reporting lines, and customer-facing processes are rarely integrated in the same order twice.

Which process wins

Where the two organisations' ways of working conflict, a decision is made and stated rather than left to whichever team shouts loudest. Undecided conflicts resolve themselves badly, in public, over months.

Synergy tracking

Every synergy from the original thesis, tracked against its owner and its date, not re-derived after close. A synergy case that changes after the deal is done is evidence something was missed or oversold.

Retention of the people the deal depends on

Named individuals whose departure would materially damage the case, with a specific reason for each to stay through the period that matters most.

Stranded cost

What cost remains after integration that the synergy case assumed would disappear — often IT, property or management layers that turn out harder to unwind than modelled.

How you run it

1. Bring the synergy thesis in from the acquisition screenEvery synergy, its owner and its date. This plan exists to deliver that thesis, not to write a new one.
2. Decide what changes on day one and what deliberately does notAmbiguity here is where trust and key people are lost fastest. State both explicitly, even the things staying the same.
3. Sequence the first hundred days by what unlocks the restNot by what is easiest. Systems, reporting lines and customer processes rarely integrate in the same order twice — choose deliberately.
4. Resolve every process conflict and state the decisionWhere the two organisations' ways of working differ, decide which wins and say so. An undecided conflict resolves itself badly, in public.
5. Track synergies against the original thesis and name a retention listEvery synergy against its owner and date; every person the case depends on, with a specific reason to stay through the period that matters.

The prompt

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