Telephone: 01249 859258

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Mergers

Mergers or Strategic Alliances - A way to safeguard your future?

Whatever the economic outlook the Print Industry will never return to its heyday, over-capacity, print technology advances and a shift away from traditional marketing communications have led to an unprecedented amount of business failures in the print sector.

Many print businesses are struggling to survice and simply don't have the financial reserves or assets to take their business in a different direction.

If you find your print business in this situation or you can see a point in time when your business will be in difficulty then perhaps you should consider a merger or strategic partnership with another print business. It could just be that doing so enables both business to reduce costs, develop a  new product offer and give their customers vastly improved service levels.

Ultimately it could mean a return to profitability and a securer future for both business.

Here's how we can help you should you decide to consider a merger of your business:

• Healthcheck - initially we will conduct an assessment of your own businesses current situation. This will be a SWOT style analysis of all your businesses component parts.
• Gap analysis - from this initial assessment we are looking to formulate a merger or strategic alliance strategy and gain an insight into the type of business that best meets the agreed criteria.
• Search and Find - now that we have clear idea of our target business we need to search through our database and network of contacts and find a business that matches your criteria. We then need to manage the initial contact and subsequent discussions and meetings.
• Financial Forecasting - once we find a potential business we will manage the process of assessing suitability and viability. We will offer impartial advice and prepare forecasts on how the combined business might look and perform and agree the targets and milestones with each party.
• Mediation - Bringing two businesses together is a difficult process but we will employ the services of a professional mediator as required to help reach agreement if the process stalls.
• Interim and Project Management - We will agree and write a detailed business plan with both parties and stay around for an agreed period after the merger to ensure that all the merger targets and milestones are achieved

Consider this...

1. The biggest issue with a merger or strategic alliance is likely to be the relationship between the two business owners - that is a relation ship that Principle Partners will manage objectively.
2. Business modelling is key - even if the two owners can work together, does the new combined business work financilally. Principle Partners will produce all the forescasts and analysis the new business needs.
3. Should the negotiations stall we highly recommend the services of a mediation expert - that will bring both parties together and try and facilitate an agreement.
4. Are there senior managers in both businesses (that posses the right skills and qualities) that could form one senior management team, if not, you might condsider employing a new Managing Director to run the combined business.
5. If you're considering merger as an option for your print business then why not arrange an initial consultation just telephone 01249 859258. All telephone discussions are FREE.