M&A Integration Consulting

The integration playbook a Fortune 500 corporate development team needs is different from the one a PE platform needs — and most consulting firms don't acknowledge the difference. PE operating partners think in fund life and exit horizon. Corp dev thinks in ROIC, multi-year strategic plans, and the permanent organizational capability to absorb the next acquisition without losing operating discipline.

Stonehill works with strategic acquirers and serial acquirers building M&A integration as an institutional muscle — not as a one-time event around each transaction. The work spans diligence-stage planning, post-close execution, and the operating model decisions that determine whether the third, fourth, and fifth acquisitions land more smoothly than the first.

Who this is for

• Corporate development teams at strategic acquirers running an active acquisition program

• CFOs and Chief Strategy Officers at serial acquirers building integration into the operating cadence

• Heads of M&A integration at companies that have institutionalized integration as a function

• CEOs of public and large private acquirers whose growth thesis depends on inorganic execution

• Family-office-backed and founder-led platforms that have moved from one-off acquisitions to a programmatic M&A strategy

Why strategic acquirer integration is different

The buyer-side dynamics shape everything about how integration runs.

• The timeline isn't fund life — it's strategic plan horizon. Integration decisions are made against 3-, 5-, and 10-year operating plans, not against a 4–6 year hold and exit. The trade-offs between speed and depth tilt differently.

• ROIC, EPS, and synergy realization carry to public markets. Integration performance gets reported to boards, investment committees, and (for public acquirers) the Street. The measurement architecture has to hold up to that scrutiny.

• Integration is repeated, not one-off. Serial acquirers do this work two, four, six times a year. The capability that matters isn't running one integration well — it's running the integration program well, with consistent playbooks, named integration leadership, and institutional learning from each deal.

• Culture isn't optional — it's strategic. PE buyers can tolerate cultural disruption during a 4-year hold. Strategic acquirers can't. The acquired company's people, customers, and operating model often have to coexist with the legacy business indefinitely.

• The IMO is a permanent function, not a project team. In PE platforms, the IMO winds down. In serial acquirers, the IMO becomes a department — with full-time staff, recurring governance, and accountability across acquisitions.

What we do for strategic acquirers

• M&A integration capability build. Designing the permanent IMO function — staffing model, governance cadence, playbook library, KPI architecture, board reporting structure. The infrastructure that lets the third acquisition run more smoothly than the first.

• Diligence-stage integration planning. Sitting alongside corp dev during diligence to surface integration complexity, sequence post-close priorities, and inform deal structure decisions before signing. Most integration risk is created in the SPA, not at Day 1.

• Post-close execution. Day 1 readiness, Day 100 planning, functional workstream leadership, synergy capture, and the operational discipline that converts deal-model commitments into board-reported results.

• Synergy and value capture programs. Cost synergy tracking against the deal model, revenue synergy enablement, procurement consolidation, organizational design decisions, and the performance management architecture that makes synergy realization visible to the executive committee and the board.

• Cultural integration in long-hold environments. Treating cultural integration as a multi-year leadership program rather than a 100-day communications push. Designed for environments where the acquired company's people and operating model have to coexist with the legacy business indefinitely.

• Integration program governance. Running the steering committee, the IMO leadership team, and the executive reporting cadence that holds integration accountable to the operating plan.

How we engage with corp dev and serial acquirers

Most strategic acquirer engagements fit one of three patterns:

• Permanent advisor to the M&A integration function. Senior Stonehill practitioners work alongside the in-house integration leader on a recurring basis — multi-deal engagements, ongoing playbook refinement, capability-building inside the team. The work compounds across acquisitions.

• Deal-specific integration leadership. For larger, more complex transactions, we lead the integration alongside the internal IMO — Day 1 through Year 1 — bringing senior practitioners into the executional seat while building capability that stays with the acquirer.

• Capability assessment and IMO design. For acquirers building or rebuilding their M&A integration function, a focused engagement to assess current state, design the target operating model for the IMO, and stand up the infrastructure to run multi-deal integration programs.