There are many costs involved in mergers and acquisitions, which include costs during the deal process, and costs after the deal are done, but there are also one-time costs that nobody focuses on. This leads to more expenses than you anticipated, which is why it is important to create a cost plan before the transaction begins which will not only minimize your costs but also help you make a profit. In this article, we will discuss the most common costs that arise in M&A.
M&A Consultant Fees
You need a consultant if you have not yet decided on the type of business you want to buy, but if you have made the decision yourself you may not need one. You also need to pay a certain fixed fee to the bankers, usually some thousands of dollars. You should also take into account the fee, which represents five percent of the entire amount of the fee paid by the buyer.
To keep your costs down you need to evaluate how useful the banker can be to your transaction. Does his price justify his contribution? You should also keep in mind that if the deal is successful, you will also have to pay a “success fee.” The percentage of that fee determines the volume of the deal – the greater the size of the transaction, the smaller the interest.
Costs associated with the deal
Costs in a deal can include costs for anything, and the larger the deal, the greater those costs. They depend on many factors, the location of the selling company, the data room you use in the process, etc. For example, if the selling company is in another city for the buying company it will mean travel expenses for several members of their team, the company you buy must be willing to pay for refreshments and lunches.
Savings, in this case, will depend entirely on your needs, if you are willing to save on hotel or lunch costs will be less.
Legal Fees
You can save money on legal fees with planning. Your corporate attorney team’s task is to provide you with advice on enterprise issues and acquiring new business is on the list of those matters. Thus, you can reduce the cost of legal fees during an M&A by using legal functions within your company and involving outside lawyers as little as possible.
Default Fee
This is the fee the company must incur if the deal fails when it is already at an advanced stage. Typically, this plan consists of deposits that are at the demand of the vendor party, and this price is generated based on the total sales price.
This fee varies from 5% to 10% of the purchase price, which can turn out to be a huge waste. To avoid this, the best thing for the selling company to do is to pay for the violations that occurred during the due diligence.
Integration consulting fees
As practice shows, the integration of acquisition is a critical stage of the transaction, on which you should by no means save. Fees for consulting on this issue can be well worth it, as many M&A deals come to naught precisely during integration. The best thing you can do is start planning the integration as soon as the due diligence is done. After all, if you understand which aspects may be problematic, perhaps you won’t require the assistance of a guidance counselor in the future.
Other costs
You will also encounter hardware and IT costs personnel costs and debt service costs. All of these are needed to make your deal and company more efficient and doom it to success.