Business Transfers: Giving New Impetus to Your Acquisition

Have you acquired or taken over a business? The first 100 days are critical.

Here are some tips to secure your teams and customer base, create value and lay the groundwork for solid growth.

1- Say where you’re going… and how you’ll get there

Start by putting your stamp on the strategic plan: objectives, target markets, value proposition, investments, performance indicators.

It’s also the right time to:

• review the customer base mapping (key accounts, niches worth developing);
• reassess your operational efficiency;
• ensure that your investment projects serve measurable priorities.

It’s about quickly showing the direction the business is headed in and how you intend to create value.

Steps to be taken immediately

• Draw up a valuation plan that specifies margins, prices, channels and efficiency gains;
• Prioritize two or three quick wins that will stand out for your team and customers, such as correcting a pricing issue or billing anomaly, renegotiating a recurring cost or delivering a delayed batch by a fixed date;
• Update the investment roadmap: what should be accelerated, put on hold or documented for later.

2- Use communication to reassure and mobilize

Before even closing the transfer, prepare a communication strategy:

• whom you should notify and at what stage in the process (local teams, key individuals, customers, suppliers, financial partners, etc.);
• what they should be told;
• which channel to use.

Announce the succession plan, roles, what’s changing and what’s staying in place. Clear communication early in the process will quell rumours and secure your ecosystem.

3- Organize the transfer of power

Proceed in three following stages.

a) First, draw up an inventory of critical knowledge: key relationships, current contracts, processes, access to systems and “in-house tips.”

b) Then, hold short, recurrent transfer meetings, with all reports shared in a same place.

c) Finally, appoint a person responsible for each area (operations, key customers, finances, IT) to monitor progress and eliminate roadblocks.

Your objective: consolidate the operational side without losing momentum.

4- Monetize without undermining cash flow

Set up a plan to convert some of the transferor’s shares into cash without stifling the business.

To achieve this, you need to identify the value, choose the financing package (bank, balance of sale price, other) and set a transfer schedule in stages.

This protects the transferor’s assets while maintaining healthy financial ratios for investment and innovation. It’s better to start early and spread out the debt than to concentrate everything in a single transaction.

5- Implement simple and effective governance

Adopt decision-making rituals and concise dashboards. This is your opportunity to define who decides what, when and based on which indicators.

If appropriate, bring in an external person to the board to fill a skills gap and reassure your financial partners.

Clear governance accelerates execution and aligns efforts.

6- Retain key individuals by gradually opening capital

Depending on the size, culture and objectives of the organization, there are three common levers.

Employee undeclared partnership (minority stock ownership)

A vehicle owned by a core group of key individuals may acquire a reserved block of shares (25%, for example). Financial information is shared in a structured manner.

Shareholding workers cooperative

Collective participation is an option when you have a larger group with similar functions.

Phantom shares

Value-indexed variable remuneration, not involving share transfer, which provides incentive without diluting ownership.

Whichever mechanism you choose, specify eligibility, rights and obligations, confidentiality and communication procedures up front. Don’t forget to include redemption or buyback terms and conditions in the event of a departure.

7- Creating value despite uncertainty

Markets are less stable and financing is more selective. Be particularly explicit about your value proposition, which involves:

• Reviewing prices;
• Targeting niches;
• Eliminating operational friction;
• Supporting frontline teams.

Your message to stakeholders: your business knows where it’s headed and how it will get there.

From acquisition to sustainable momentum

After taking over or acquiring a business, your priority is twofold: securing (management, communication, governance, cash flow) and adding value (market, efficiency, talents, stock ownership).

Proceed in visible stages, monitor your indicators and maintain a clear, conversational tone. This is how you transform a business takeover into lasting new momentum.

For more information, communicate with our team.