Unlocking Growth: Strategic M&A for Building Strength and Creating Value

Private equity investors are leveraging strategic acquisitions to address economic headwinds and unlock long-term value. Although rising interest rates, digital transformation pressures, and geopolitical uncertainty have introduced some steep challenges, they also created opportunities for considered investment. By identifying companies with unrealised potential, investors are managing to create impact through operational transformation and strategic integration.

Consumer goods and healthcare are prominent sectors that have seen significant consolidation. Both sectors are filled with small companies that, if consolidated, can create more powerful and streamlined operations. By integrating procurement, logistics, sales, and digital platforms across a network of companies, investors can reduce costs and maximise flexibility along with expanding market share.

These industries are attractive for another reason: many of the companies in them have been built incrementally over many decades. They are often family-run, regional in scope, and based on long-term relationships with customers and employees. This makes them resilient but also susceptible to market disruption. For potential acquirers who are willing to provide direction and organisation, the returns can be very attractive.

Buying stressed businesses tends to be a complex exercise. Valuations may be difficult to ascertain, particularly where recent financial performance doesn't mirror long-term promise. Further, family business dynamics, such as family ownership or management deficiencies, call for considerations extending beyond mere financial analysis. In such situations, industry insight, empathy, and a steady nerve can be as vital as the application of spreadsheets and analytical models.

At Nigel Wright Group, we offer end-to-end support to investors during the whole deal process. This can involve helping to define leadership needs early on, assessing organisational readiness for change, or managing cultural integration post-acquisition. Much of our work starts long before a deal is completed, thus ensuring the right team and structure are in place from the beginning.

Our collaboration with Mutares in France is a prime example. We assisted in attracting senior leaders for some of its portfolio companies, such as Clecim, an industrial engineering company. Within 12 months of the recruitment of a new CEO, the company was profitable again, which brought national awards. That success was not just the result of strategy, but leadership matching timing.

Our brief extends beyond the signature on an agreement. We assist in driving change adoption by supporting leadership teams, bringing in interim capability, and developing change plans. We like to work with in-house teams, not as external consultants but as contributing partners who assist in building momentum from the inside.

Lasting success is not just a matter of reorganisation or cost management. To persist, change must be aligned in culture, leadership, and day-to-day decision-making. This is especially applicable to markets where customer confidence is key, e.g., healthcare and consumer brands, where reputation can make or break success.

We anticipate more in the future acquisitions of businesses that are in transition. Investors who can act decisively and provide structure and leadership are well-positioned to realise substantial returns and to facilitate broader renewal in major industries.