Mergers and Acquisitions Deals are Changing.

Dramatic shifts are taking place in the world of mergers and acquisitions. The types of deals that are taking place – and the way they’re financed and executed – are changing significantly.

Your business may be looking to divest assets or to acquire assets at competitive prices to increase your market share. Either way, you need to analyze the value and risks of a deal, to understand if you have a solid business case for moving forward.

What one question would you ask the CEO?

Interesting question - what would you ask to get the CEO to show their true abilities?

From HBR: Have you ever pondered what you'd ask the CEO if you were made chairman of the board for 10 minutes and could pose one question? You'd want to make it count. Nothing about markets or strategies — CEOs have canned answers for that kind of thing. You'd want a question that would strip away the cloak of invincibility and reveal the CEO's innermost fears. A question that could tell you a lot about the company's potential under this leader. Read more.

How do I sell my business?

Family business owners who are thinking about selling their companies and want to tilt the process to their advantage should start planning immediately.

“One reason our family business had a successful succession was because we started the process early,” says Laura McNally, part of the third generation at McNally International Inc., a leading Canadian tunneling and marine contractor. To read the whole article, click here.

Colin Walker explains why M&A Activity Resumes Declining Trend

First quarter Canadian M&A activity was lacklustre and resumed the downward trend that began 5 quarters ago. According to the Financial Post Crosbie: Mergers & Acquisitions in Canada database, there were 196 transactions in Q1 worth $25.9 billion. Although the quarterly decline appeared pronounced with a decline in activity of 35% and 51% in value from the strong fourth quarter (301 transactions worth $52.8 billion), Q4 now looks like a relative outlier as M&A resumed its downward multi-quarter trend. Activity in Q1 was at the lowest level since Q1/2009 and has also declined below the general range of quarterly activity observed since the financial crisis.
“The softness is in many ways counterintuitive,” said Colin Walker, Managing Director at Crosbie & Company. “Many of conditions should be quite favourable for M&A transactions but obviously, something is holding the market back. Some of the culprits likely include the macro-economic uncertainty, the impact of low rates, as well as certain sector specific issues.”
Large transaction (over $1 billion) activity hit the lowest quarterly level since Q1 2010, with only three transactions announced and an aggregate value of $7.7 billion. The largest of these transactions was the acquisition of Primaris Retail Real Estate Investment Trust by H&R Real Estate Investment Trust for $4.6 billion. The other two transactions were the acquisition of Irish Life Group Limited by Great-West Lifeco Inc. for $1.8 billion and JSC Atomredmetzoloto’s acquisition of Uranium One Inc. for $1.3 billion.
Capital groups remained relatively active in the quarter with a total of 10 transactions over $100 million this quarter for an aggregate value of $8.1 billion. While down from 21 transactions last quarter, the showing this quarter is in line with the level of activity seen in most recent quarters. Canadian pension funds continued to be active, accounting for half of all the capital group announcements, three of which were real estate transactions; a continuation of the trend seen in recent quarter with pension funds actively acquiring local and international real estate assets. The largest capital group transaction in the quarter was the acquisition of Primaris Retail Real Estate Investment Trust by H&R Real Estate Investment Trust for $4.6 billion where Ontario Pension Board was one of the buyers.
Real Estate was the most active industry sector this quarter with a total of 69 deals (worth $11.5 billion), representing 35% of total M&A activity. Consumable Fuels was the second most active sector with 30 transactions for a value of $3 billion.
The top two sectors accounted for over 50% of total M&A activity and 56% of aggregate value. In the past 11 quarters, Real Estate has been the most active sector 8 times with Consumable Fuels being the most active the remaining three times.“The weakness in M&A activity this quarter was very broad, impacting most sectors outside of Real Estate and Financial Services,” said Colin Walker. “Of particular note is the weakness in both Mining and Consumable Fuels which reflects the individual issues facing each of those sectors.”
Cross-border transactions played its usual central role in the Canadian M&A market accounting for 40% of all announcements in the quarter. While Canadian firms’ acquisitions of foreign companies exceeded foreign acquisitions of Canadian firms by a ratio of 2.2 to 1, it is notable that Canadian firms also outspent their foreign counterparts on cross-border acquisitions by a ratio of 2 to 1 which reflects the lack of any larger foreign take-overs in the quarter. The largest cross-border transaction in the quarter was the aforementioned Irish Life Group transaction.
“Canadian firms continue to actively pursue attractive foreign acquisitions, which is a testament to the relative strength of Canadian firms and is an encouraging indicator in spite of the sharp decline in overall activity this quarter,” commented Colin Walker

It’s NOT All About You, It’s About the Company You Keep

Books written by friends are always the most interesting and Michelle Bailey shares her most valuable business ideas in her new book - It's NOT all about you, it's about the company you keep.

What a great title and Michelle's book seems to be channeling other great experts. Just last week, I was fortunate enough to host an event with Warren Buffett's team who buy companies in Canada. They are part of MiTek. They sold the majority of their company to Warren Buffett and have grown their business tremendously ever since. It helped to have the Berkshire Hathaway name but it was more than that. Exactly as Michelle has written, it is about the people you have around you.

Interesting enough, David Simpson, the professor from Ivey who ran the event commented on MiTek and their obvious positive attitude. He would agree with Michele Bailey too, as he said, "I tell my MBA students, surround your self with great people. Make sure they make the room light up when they walk in, not light up when they walk out."

So get inspired and get Michelle's book - here are the details:

Oakville’s 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year has packed her first book with learnings from her challenging journey on her quest to achieve meaningful success as an entrepreneur and business owner.

Michele Bailey, President and CEO of Oakville-based Blazing THE Agency, has now authored her first book:  It’s NOT All About You, It’s About the Company You Keep. 

Michele’s story inspires all who hear it, because it is told from the heart and is of a journey filled with challenges, heartaches and celebrations.  From the brink of disaster to the thriving business enterprise Blazing THE Agency is today, Michele openly and willingly shares her secrets to success and the mistakes that have made her wise.

Topics range from Building Amazing Teams, Cultivating a Strong Support Network, Leadership, Strategic Client and Supplier Relationships, to Attracting and Retaining Talent.  And while budding entrepreneurs will find the information and stories within the book to be particularly relevant, business professionals of all levels will find valuable lessons and nuggets of expert advice in every chapter.

 In a world where employee turnover is high and talented resources are not easy to retain, how is it that Blazing manages to keep its Team members for such a long time and so highly motivated?  Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out. 

 “My job every day is to make sure I provide the energy, vitality and support

 my team needs to excel in their jobs,” states Michele.

 The book, containing the Workbook, will be available at www.blazingtheagency.com for $24.99 and electronically for $19.99 as of April 26, 2013.  In keeping with Michele’s strong belief in “paying it forward” and in the spirit of “giving back”, a percentage of every book sold will benefit The Oakville
Hospital
Foundation
as
well
as Partners for Haitian Children (PHC) – a signature charity supported by the company.

To continue the conversation CONTACT:  martine.d@blazingtheagency.com

About Blazing THE Agency….

Blazing THE Agency is an Integrated Marketing Communications firm that through its 18 years in business has delivered results oriented programs in the areas of Trade and Consumer Promotions, Branding and Strategic Corporate Communications, as well as Business to Business Marketing. Blazing’s has achieved excellence by providing our clients with a full range of services -  strategic planning, brand development, traditional and digital web design, video production and mobile campaigns which has allowed us to take ownership of the entire project life cycle delivering on the brand and business objectives of our clients across North America.

About the author Michele Bailey….

Founder, President and CEO of Blazing Design Inc., Michele is also an engaging, dynamic professional speaker, able to address a wide variety of topics. Michele’s experiences in negotiating a solid financial footing, making sound investment decisions, creating and mining a strong business network, maintaining a talented employee base and managing ongoing positive forward momentum are the keys to her success.

Michele’s accomplishments and credentials are many…

• Founding member of Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) in Canada

(www.womenpresidentsorg.com)

•       Member of WEConnect Canada and its first Women-Certified Business in Canada

(www.WEconnectcanada.org)

•       Winner of Oakville’s 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year Award, selected by the Oakville

Awards for Business Excellence

•       2012 Winner of The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) World of Difference

100  Award – Entrepreneurial Category, for contributions to the economic

empowerment of women (www.tiaw.org)

•       Chair of the Marketing Committee for The Oakville Hospital Foundation (OHF), whose mandate is to support not only the existing Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital but to contribute to the required millions needed to equip the new regional hospital now under construction in Oakville, Ontario (www.haltonhealthcare.com)