M&A Strategy: Finding potential targets
THIS IS THE FREE, REDACTED VERSION OF THE TASKS IN THE M&A REFERENCE MODEL AND IT IS LICENSED UNDER Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International THE FULL SET OF DATA HAS TO BE LICENSED COMMERCIALLY. HERE is a full model example for one task. The task has the following goal(s):
Longlist of targets: created
The task has the following objectives:
Information asymmetry: minimized
Buyer-target complementarity: maximized
Short description of task Finding potential targets:
With the result from the previous task, you have defined a space to search in and you have put requirements in place that the potential target should fulfill. First, finding targets requires a selection of the right sources to search for targets. You can look for acquisition targets in the company ecosystem, e.g. partners, suppliers, customers, competitors and in adjacent or remote markets.
The task uses the following business object types:
Ecosystem, Longlist of targets, Target locations, Target company, Market of the buyer, Market of the target, Buyer Industry, Assignment of target markets to industry, Target countries, Buyer.
Tool/Service: Patev Patent-based Target Search
The tool automates the following actions
Define selection criteria and market: partially automated.
Scan sources for potential targets: fully automated.
Review companies to join the longlist: partially automated.
Define the longlist of targets: partially automated.
Tool/Service: Abrams World Trade Wiki
The tool automates the following actions
Define selection criteria and market: not automated.
Scan sources for potential targets: partially automated.
Review companies to join the longlist: partially automated.
Define the longlist of targets: not automated.
Questions to be used during the execution of the task
The task is executed with the following questions, among others:
Is the space that should be filled by a target sufficiently defined?
What are the specific criteria that the acquiring company is looking for in a target company, such as size, industry, location, financial performance, or cultural fit?
Are we limited by certain countries, regions, company sizes, financial KPIs or other attributes of the target?
Which are the discriminating factors to include/exclude target companies?
Did the strategic assumptions change since we defined the M&A strategy?
Which are the data sources, tools, people and organizations we should make use of in searching for targets?
Which are the appropriate bankers or buy-side and sell-side advisors to assist us?
Which tools, databases, service providers are the right ones to search for targets?
Does it make sense to involve industry-specific analysts?
Are there suitable candidates in the buyer s ecosystem?
Are there suitable candidates in a competitors ecosystem?
Are there suitable candidates in adjacent markets?
Are the companies valuations within the financial abilities of the buyer?
Are the companies willing to be acquired by the buyer?
What is the value proposition for the target company and its executives and employees when getting acquired?
How important is the customer ecosystem of the target to the buyer?
How important is the partner ecosystem of the target to the buyer?
What are the target company's financials?
What is the position of the targets in the respective industry?
What is the revenue of the different target companies?
Which are the business models of the target companies?
Which are the value propositions of the companies?
What are the planned complementarities regarding cost, products, supply chains etc.?
What are the planned complementarities regarding markets, GTM models, brands, partner ecosystems?
What are the expected synergies regarding cost, products, supply chains etc.?
What are the expected synergies regarding markets, GTM models, brands, partner ecosystems?
Does one of the target companies work with one of the buyer's competitors?
THIS IS THE FREE; REDACTED VERSION OF THE TASK IN THE M&A REFERENCE MODEL: THE FULL SET OF DATA HAS TO BE LICENSED(C) Dr. Karl Michael Popp 2025