The international conference M&A WORLDWIDE ACQUISITION AND INVESTMENT FORUM has finished. The Forum saw almost 150 representatives of companies and organizations, including 50 M&A experts hailing from 40 countries, who discussed global trends in the area of mergers and acquisitions, as well as key aspects of cross-border transactions.
Poland's first international conference M&A WORLDWIDE ACQUISITION AND INVESTMENT FORUM, held on May 12 in Warsaw, was part of the Warsaw convention of the M&A Worldwide Network, an organization represented in Poland by the companies JP Weber and Capital One Advisers.
During the panel debates, leaders of global changes, investment bankers, Polish and foreign investors and the sector's specialists focused on the following areas:
- global M&A trends,
- effective execution of cross-border takeover projects,
- key success factors of M&A transactions - as for this field, subjects raised included enterprise valuation and due diligence-related aspects,
- good M&A practices,
- the importance of cultural aspects in the integration process after the transaction is finalized and the impact of these factors on the course of the entire process.
Today, it is hard to imagine a country where acquisition processes are not being observed.
As for the companies operating within M&A Worldwide Network alone, the year 2015 saw 423 transactions, whose value totaled 3 billion USD. The scale of the projects carried out clearly shows the multitude of undertakings related to company takeovers, sale and mergers. The number of M&A projects is increasing due to the consistently improving economic conditions and competitive financing sources. Furthermore, transactions are being driven by a search for cost synergies and efficiency through consolidation - says Anna Domeredzka, Managing Partner, Vice President of Capital One Advisers board.
DealBook
During the Polish convention, the advisers of the M&A Worldwide network developed and presented the M&A Worldwide DealBook - a collection of about 250 potential transaction projects awaiting delivery in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America in sectors including automotive, health care, IT & telecommunications, FMCG, and energy. A DealBook of this kind was first presented during the international forum in China, in 2015.
Conclusions
The practitioners unanimously agreed that cross-border transactions are an opportunity on the M&A market, a testimony to which were the interesting presentations of the success stories of IPH Group and Work Service SA, companies which today are present on international markets. The experts emphasized the importance of the development of good transaction practices. The more conscientiously good practices are developed the more effective are the transaction and then integration within the organization.
The most important elements determining a transaction's success are, first and foremost: ensuring business continuity, finding and using synergy, retaining clients and, most importantly, people, and thus their competences. During all of our transactions, we couldn't afford to lose clients or staff - says Tomasz Hanczarek, Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Work Service SA.
Work Service is a perfect reflection of the present trend - Polish enterprises are more and more actively operating on mature foreign markets.
Our experience shows that Polish companies are entering not only Eastern markets, but they are more and more actively conquering Western European countries. They show determination in their transaction processes, which gives them an opportunity to build value at a fast pace - says Grzegorz Piechowiak, Managing Partner, JP Weber.
The biggest and most interesting discussion, however, concerned cultural aspects, which are a very significant factor to international transactions.
The current cooperation with foreign investors shows us how sensitive this factor is within every organization and how identity impacts and defines behaviors in organizations - stresses Tobiasz Adam Kowalczyk, Head of Legal & Compliance, Commercial Proxy with Samsung Electronics Poland Manufacturing sp. z o.o.
The dynamics of globalization and investments' going beyond borders may introduce a need to prepare a separate due diligence study in the cultural area, while currently this type of examination focuses mainly on areas such as law, taxes and business. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the role of the consultant who must also be familiar with various cultural aspects and nuances, thanks to which they are capable of effectively executing transactions between enterprises operating in different regions of the world.
The event was held under the auspices of the Polish Information and Foreign Investments Agency and the Association of Stock Exchange Issuers.
