In 1987 ge had 7,500 employees in Europe. It now has 75,000, split between financial and industrial services. Andrew Moore from GE Consumer Finance (a division with $77bn of total assets) and Ivan Royle, director of communications for financial services at GE Capital Europe, gave The Banker a few tips from this serial acquirer:
1. The vast majority of planning pre-deal is about communications – you have to make a difference from day one, as it is the first time people will hear from you.
2. Make sure you really understand the business you acquire. There is a tendency to think you know it because you’ve done due diligence but a week of actually owning a business makes a big difference.
3. Do not forget about communicating with middle managers. They probably feel most vulnerable and are most ignored.
4. Communicate outside the company: customers and suppliers need to meet you.
5. Develop an early integration plan for the first 100 days.
6. Move people from the acquired company into other jobs in your organisation.
7. Only occasionally use investment banks. In GE there is not one group buying things, another integrating them. Every deal has a “sponsoring” business that acquires it.
8. There is no standard plan. It is dangerous to encourage the box-ticking approach.
