Identifying a Merger & Acquisition Target

Master's Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 2,3, International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef - Bonn, language: English, abstract: The consulting report "Identifying a Merger and Acquisition Target" describes the consulting project carried out at the medium-sized German IT service provider ITSERV GmbH.Like many companies in the IT industry, ITSERV experiences major difficulties filling vacancies. As a people business the company's growth is hampered by the lack of skilled IT professionals. Since all opportunities to expand the workforce and to grow organically with more employees are exhausted, the CEO of ITSERV wants to grow externally through a company acquisition.In order to support his M&A efforts with a sound approach, the CEO has sought the help of an external consultant to find out what a suitable takeover candidate for the company should look like. In the course of the ensuing consulting project, various internal and external analyses are conducted to look more closely at the company and its market and to identify development opportunities for the company that could be implemented through an appropriate M&A strategy.The analyses include classic analysis tools such as the SWOT analysis and the portfolio analysis which - where applicable - are supplemented by other suitable methods and models. The results of this determination of ITSERV's status quo provide the basis for the identification of development opportunities for the company. In order to make these usable for ITSERV's management independently of the M&A efforts, general recommendations are formulated in this regard.In order to answer the CEO's original question about suitable acquisition targets, three possible approaches to an M&A strategy along with priorities for the search for takeover candidates are developed, based on the results of the analysis. Moreover, this paper also provides critical considerations concerning ITSERV's way forward with regard to the CEO's M&A efforts such as the importance of considering aspects of corporate culture during due diligence and in the post-merger integration of an acquired company.