Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)

Successfully achieving your deal objectives requires proactively identifying workforce issues with the same rigour as all other strategic elements. This includes evaluating the skills and behaviours required to make the deal work.

People expertise. Sustained performance.

In a world characterised by business model disruption, inorganic growth strategies are increasingly critical to success. With investor pressure coming from all sides, the current dynamic deal environment requires a combination of know-how and effective execution to deliver sustainable value today, tomorrow and well into the future. It also demands a dynamic mergers and acquisitions strategy.

Thanks to our global scale and local footprint, Mercer has the business acumen, deal experience and people expertise to solve your toughest people challenges — we can work anywhere in the world and act at a moment’s notice. We aim to help you maximise value, mitigate risk and moderate costs to capture the full value of your deal.

The diversity of our clients — in terms of size, maturity, industry sector and geographic location — means we can collaborate with all types of organisations to tackle a broad range of issues. Simply put, we know what needs to be done — when, how, why and by whom. We can work with you to manage the most complex deals, streamlining every step of the process to drive growth and help your business soar to new heights.

What makes Mercer different?

70+

years of deal experience

1400+

transactions annually

140+

country operations

60%

cross-border transactions

28+

languages

Our focus

Heightened competition means buyers often have to commit without performing adequate due diligence, mitigating risk, determining compliance issues or fully developing post-merger integration plans. Mercer’s project management operations (PMO) approach combines world-class process management with real-time consulting. The result is the rapid identification and mitigation of risk.
  • Workforce strategy

    Determine critical roles and the talent needed to drive success. Formulate workforce strategies to address any gaps.
  • Operating model

    Develop your future strategy and operating model, including organisation design, governance and decision rights.
  • Talent assessment, retention and onboarding

    Maximise deal success by assessing talent, identifying and selecting leaders, and retaining critical skill sets.
  • Change management and communication

    Conduct change management planning and integration focused on moving key stakeholders from both entities.
  • Culture

    Identify cultural risks to deal objectives, and build a comprehensive integration strategy and operating environment.
  • Talent insights

    Implement an AI-based approach to understand skills, identify risks and retention implications pre-close, and develop post-close talent strategies.
  • HR technologies

    Create the HR delivery platform required to support strategic objectives.
  • Global benefits and policies

    Understand, align and optimise benefits programmes. We do this in more than 150 countries and for organisations of all sizes.
  • Rewards

    Determine whether executive, sales and general incentives help achieve synergies between organisations.
  • Pension

    Understand, align and optimise pension plans, and mitigate associated risk globally.

Additional M&A advisory solutions and products

  • People in M&A

    Private Equity Advisory

    Mercer works with private equity partners and their portfolio companies throughout the transaction journey. We promote scalability, eliminate barriers to growth, and accelerate value creation through talent optimisation.



Related insights

  • People in M&A

    Navigating carve-outs: Strategies for success

    In the world of private equity, unlocking the full potential of investments requires a deep understanding of the role people play in value creation. This piece explores the critical moments where people make a difference in the private equity ownership journey. From due diligence to exit readiness, discover how optimising the human factor can drive success and maximise returns.
  • People in M&A

    Five steps to take before your next deal

    By: Scott Gardiner, Senior Principal, HR M&A & Transformation Advisory
    As business leaders focus on synergies, pricing, and the go-forward strategy during an acquisition, the human capital aspects of a deal are often overlooked. Mercer's research suggests that seven out of 10 deals fail to realise objectives, and almost 50% of those failures are due to people-related issues. M&A presents challenges for even the most experienced and prepared organisations. The HR function can help the organisation successfully navigate this transition.

Get in touch with our team