Understanding The M&A Services Market

While the current credit crunch has led to a decrease in the overall number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2008 compared with 2007, companies continue to rely on good advice and support to realize the anticipated business benefits of their M&A activities. However, the provider landscape for M&A services is extremely heterogeneous in terms of players and fragmented in terms of service offerings. Management consultancies, tax and auditing advisory firms, systems integrators, and IT outsourcers all claim to be able to act as strategic partners to their clients throughout the M&A life cycle. To be successful, service providers need to position themselves much more around their client stakeholders' objectives and roles and much less around their own legacies.