Chris Hawkins: M&A, Career Mobility, In house vs. Consulting

Introduction: I’ll ask you to tell us what you do in a sentence or two. * Director Corp Dev at SunEdison * Integration of acquired companies in NA * Setting up global shared services center. You’ve worked as a consultant at one of the large global consulting firms and ‘in-house’ on M&A with a very fast moving corporate player. Can you compare the two environments? * 8 - 9 years on PwC on audit side. * Exposure into non-account work and he saw that he couldn't 'speak the language' of other parts of the business. * swimming pool - swims the whole pool. Consulting vs. in-house? * Mind set is very different. Serving in a client service role objectives are a little different. At the end of the day in house you'll still be here. As a consultant, that might not be the case. Your companies name is attached to it, not your own. * There's a higher level of accountability building the house that you have to live in. * Drive of the people in consulting is different. In corporate, you'll see different motivations, not necessarily all on the same page. Contrast the differences. * Leading by influence. Getting everyone on the same piece of music. Easier at a consultant. For the last several years, you’ve been focused on M&A activities. Can you give us some context of the work you’ve done… * Merger and integration. * Buys two types of companies - those with people, those without. * FirstWind Deal - entire company - 250 people * Projects * Split between finding deals and integrating them. * Buying a company isn't easy. Making it work is also difficult. Can't just throw it over the wall and expect them to coexist. As you’re looking at a possible acquisition, when do you typically get involved? * doesn't work very well to bring in an integration team too close to the deal being done. * Should all tie into the valuation model. Need someone who can see the synergies and help with valuation. * When you bring everyone into the game early and get buy in on a road map for integrating the two entities - cost savings, new business, etc. For those of us on the outside looking in, give us a sense of the work that’s gone into an acquisition before any news becomes public? * Typical lifecycle: NDA * Diligence & preliminary term sheet * Sign a PSA, purchase and sale agreement * Sign to close varies Once your team has settled in on the idea that a specific transaction will go through, what are you looking for within the firm to maximize the value of this acquisition? * You can either save $ or drive more $ * Cost savings: * Business A isn't going to do something anymore - may also cost rev. * Duplicative back office functions * Complementary supply chains * Revenue Side: * Cross-sell or up-sell to current customer lists * Partnerships * Technologies each company may have * Sometimes you're betting on the future of a technology paying There’s likely a significant value factor – the business model, horizontal / vertical integration, specific book of business. I’d imagine in every transaction, there’s one big value driver. Is that right, or am I missing something? * Is there a theme associated with it. * FirstWind: Wanted to get into wind. Directionally, it was about getting into wind. Also sub-components. The audience for this podcast are ambitious corporate professionals. What one piece of tactical – go implement today – advice do you have for this group? * Everything needs to drive some kind of value. * On a macro level that may take months * On a daily level - you need to know what you're doing that will drive the highest value. * What is the highest and best use of your time. What’s your favorite business book? * Coopitition, Game Theory, 3D negotiations. * Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People Tell Chris thank you on LinkedIn. chawkins@sunedison.com

You can listen to Chris Hawkins: M&A, Career Mobility, In house vs. Consulting online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Chris Hawkins: M&A, Career Mobility, In house vs. Consulting is an episode from Hard Way MBA by Hard Way MBA.

This episode is 00:31:41 long.

This episode was published on Apr 3, 2016.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Hard Way MBA when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.