Private EquityM&A Science
Meg Cavanaugh, SVP of Legal at Commvault, explains how in-house legal teams can structure M&A transactions and run due diligence to ensure post-close integrations succeed. She discusses strategies for managing outside c…
- Meg Cavanaugh at Commvault keeps M&A legal diligence inside a dedicated internal team instead of offloading data room inspection to outside firms. Read →
- Carbonite centralized deal stages under a lean corporate development team led by a single VP, running sourcing, valuation, and post-close execution soup to nuts. Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Kison Patel curates real-world M&A horror stories collected from corporate development leaders, private equity practitioners, attorneys, and advisors. The episode details late-stage deal collapses, post-closing accounti…
- On an enterprise divestiture, a seller internal directive uncovered post-close ordered staff to conceal deteriorating financial projections: "Do not give the latest forecast. We'r… Read →
- A $340 million corporate acquisition predicated on software and data integration was written down and offloaded for $12 million just three years post-close. Read →
- Technical diligence allows acquirers to capitalize on market panic: in an aerospace auction, an industrial buyer proved a public crisis was an installation error rather than a par… Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Cooley partner Danielle Fortier breaks down the structural and operational mechanics behind corporate carve-outs, explaining why vendor contracts and shared systems derail deal timelines far more often than headline ass…
- Cooley partner Danielle Fortier notes that software carve-out negotiations rarely stall over proprietary source code isolation or repository duplication anymore. Read →
- In a standard equity acquisition, buyers inspect audited financials and lean on high materiality thresholds, but corporate carve-outs collapse when minor vendor agreements and sha… Read →
- Cooley partner Danielle Fortier notes that persistent valuation gaps between buyers and sellers have replaced the whole-company acquisitions common during 2020 with targeted asset… Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
In this episode, Kison Patel continues his conversation with his former mentor, entrepreneur and real estate developer Jerry Cedicci. Cedicci shares his dealmaking playbooks, covering how to structure zero-down acquisit…
- Jerry Cedicci treats initial bank loan rejections as free underwriting audits rather than deal-killing dead ends. Read →
- Jerry Cedicci structures zero-down acquisitions by eliminating seller risk rather than negotiating purchase price concessions. Read →
- Jerry Cedicci eliminates general contractors entirely, contracting directly with individual trades to strip out intermediary markups on development projects. Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Kison Patel interviews his former mentor, real estate developer Jerry Cedicci, tracing how Cedicci went from being an orphaned immigrant in Chicago to building a multi-million-dollar real estate portfolio. Cedicci detai…
- Jerry Cedicci signed his Walton Street lease in Chicago despite landlord Edward Stler warning that the average American bakery generated only $450 per day. Read →
- Jerry Cedicci secured a 10-year fixed purchase option at $10 million while signing a retail lease for a 72,000-square-foot asset at 72 East Walton in Chicago. Read →
- Jerry Cedicci acquired a 44,000-square-foot industrial property at Lake and Carpenter in Chicago's Fulton Market for approximately $210,000 in the 1980s. Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
In this episode, real estate developer Jerry Cedicci shares his journey from growing up in the French state orphanage system to developing hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate across Chicago and Los Angeles. H…
- Jerry Cedicci identified the upside of Chicago's Fulton Market meatpacking district by pattern-matching its layout and logistics directly to Les Halles in Paris. Read →
- Orphanage upbringing shaped an early tolerance for operating without institutional safety nets after losing both parents at age seven. Read →
- Jerry Cedicci entered the Chicago retail market in 1981 speaking no English and possessing zero commercial baking background. Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Kim Jones, an HR M&A director with extensive experience at Microsoft and ServiceNow, explains why post-close integration failures stem from a lack of leadership enablement rather than cultural resistance. She details ho…
- Standard integration workstreams generate operational compliance, but genuine value capture requires executive advocacy. Read →
- Acquirers frequently waste retention packages on executive figureheads while missing the technical linchpins who understand the acquired codebase. Read →
- Financial retention packages purchase immediate compliance, not operational commitment. Kim Jones points out that throwing capital at founders planning an exit wastes retention po… Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Praveen Ghanta, founder of HiddenLevers, joins Kison Patel to detail how his company navigated a high-stakes sell-side acquisition by Orion Advisor Solutions. Ghanta explains how a delayed $2 million enterprise contract…
- Vague revenue definitions in a letter of intent allow buyers to shift the valuation baseline during confirmatory diligence, converting top-line headline multiples into retrade too… Read →
- HiddenLevers shipped code at two to three times the speed of legacy teams at Orion Advisor Solutions prior to its acquisition. Read →
- Sell-side bargaining power peaks the moment before signing a letter of intent (LOI), when the seller can run a competitive process with multiple bidders. Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Bill Stone, founder and CEO of SS&C Technologies, discusses how he scaled the company through nearly 100 acquisitions while maintaining meaningful founder ownership and control. He breaks down his balance sheet leverage…
- Bill Stone built SS&C Technologies through nearly 100 acquisitions, including Financial Models Company, GlobeOp, and Blue Prism, while protecting founder equity. Read →
- Bill Stone built SS&C Technologies through nearly 100 acquisitions, executing takeovers of major assets like Financial Models Company, GlobeOp, and Blue Prism while keeping founde… Read →
- Board unanimity means nothing when sponsor headquarters decides otherwise; SS&C's board voted unanimously to go public in 2007, but Carlyle leadership in Washington killed the IPO. Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Kison Patel and Aaron Binstock of Cooley discuss the practical integration of AI into M&A legal work, detailing how the firm leverages AI for efficiency in drafting and due diligence. They explore successful application…
- Cooley openly committed to its AI principles, framing AI adoption not merely as an efficiency play but as a cornerstone of trust and transparency with clients. Read →
- Aaron Binstock of Cooley highlights that AI is shifting junior associate work away from rote document review and into higher-order analytical tasks, demanding more from lawyers wi… Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Jennifer Lipshultz, Senior Director of M&A Integration at ECI Software Solutions, discusses the complexities of cross-border acquisitions, focusing on the often-overlooked back-office and people integration challenges.…
- Cross-border back-office compliance, such as new electronic invoicing requirements in Norway and Sweden, demanded ECI Software Solutions acquire additional software modules and th… Read →
- ECI Software Solutions made a strategic pivot about two years before Jennifer Lipshultz joined, moving from a holding company model to a 'full absorption' M&A approach, centralizi… Read →
- Jennifer Lipshultz, Senior Director of M&A Integration at ECI Software Solutions, prioritizes engaging acquired company leaders first, running "change engagement sessions" because… Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Kison Patel, host of M&A Science, interviews Andrew Morbitzer, VP of corporate development at Life 360, about why M&A deals frequently fail and how pitches often miss what buyers truly need. Morbitzer, with experience o…
- Andrew Morbitzer, VP of corporate development at Life 360, highlights a core M&A friction: investment bankers chase swift closing fees, while corporate buyers are judged on the lo… Read →
- Andrew Morbitzer, VP of corporate development at Life 360, highlights alarming data from Clayton Christensen, indicating that up to 90% of M&A deals underperform or outright fail… Read →
- A significant deal Andrew Morbitzer worked on collapsed when a founder declared, "I don't think I can do this. I just don't trust you," signaling trust as a non-negotiable deal br… Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Sean Rodri, an M&A and corporate development consultant with over 220 acquisitions, shares his practical operating model for scaling high-volume M&A programs. He details how to build the right team, create an effective…
- The moment of close is not the finish line; it's the start of a critical integration period where deals are either secured or lost through neglect. Read →
- Sean Rodri, with a track record of over 220 acquisitions, argues that scaling M&A to 50-60 deals annually requires an operating model built on rigid, upfront strategic alignment,… Read →
Private EquityM&A Science
Kison Patel speaks with Jeremy Segal, EVP of Corporate Development at Progress, about their M&A strategy focused on doubling revenue every five years through inorganic growth. They delve into how Progress successfully o…
- Progress's Jeremy Segal details the public-private software valuation gap. Learn why disciplined acquirers are waiting for private equity to capitulate. Read →
- Progress, led by EVP Jeremy Segal, doubles revenue every five years via inorganic growth, demanding strict M&A financial discipline. Read →
- Progress routinely outbids private equity firms in software M&A by finding unique cost synergies that PE can't replicate. Read →