What are the special features of Chinese investors in the integration of acquired companies? How do they differ from buyers from Europe and the United States? The German M&A Association explored these and other questions at its first annual M&A Integration Conference. Around 50 M&A experts from companies and consultancies gathered on May 9 at the offices of the auditing firm KPMG at Frankfurt Airport.
Chinese investors are acting sustainably. The hosts of the integration conference, Professor Kai Lucks, Chairman of the German M&A Association, and Maximilian Gröning, Head of KPMG Legal Advisory, agreed on this. And they are not just fair-weather investors. “The Chinese also bear the bad times,” Lucks noted. “I am fascinated by the strategic approach of the Chinese and their government,” added Philipp Ostermeier, who heads the Strategy Group at KPMG.
One of the best-known examples of a successful Chinese M&A deal in Germany is the takeover of Putzmeister by Sany in 2012. The fact that the integration phase also presented its very own challenges here was shown in the practical report by Dr. Renate Neumann-Schäfer, who was CFO and responsible for finance at the global market leader for concrete pumps from 2009 to 2017.
The contrast between the sustainability-oriented Chinese buyers and some American investors could not be greater. Consultant Dr. Christian Artmann described how the US series integrator Danaher bases its acquisitions purely on efficiency criteria.
In the final European part of the event, the example of Siemens Mentor Graphics showed just how complex complete integration can be. Dr. Hans Georg Arnswald, Head of Strategy at Siemens Digital Factory, described how two cultures clashed here too: the German-influenced “hardware” and engineering culture at Siemens and the US “software” and start-up culture at Mentor Graphics. Siemens Digital Factory managed to complete the integration within two years. A major task. The new subsidiary’s business had to be completely restructured, employees had to be retained wherever possible and numerous synergies had to be created. According to Arnswald, the key to the successful integration lay not only in more than ten years of experience with takeovers, but above all in the M&A methodology that Siemens has developed internally and applies to all acquisitions.
Author: Stefan Gätzner
