M&A Awards 2023 – German M&A Association honors outstanding transactions of recent years at the M&A Summit
- Learning from science and practice: top-class speakers at the M&A Summit 2023
- Anniversary event: German M&A Association celebrates its 20th anniversary – new board focuses on future topics
- M&A Award 2023 presented in five categories – Körber AG, SAP SE, Siemens AG, Medios AG and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Lucks are the winners
Munich, July 14, 2023: The Bundesverband Mergers & Acquisitions gem. e.V. (BM&A) presented the “M&A Awards 2023” for the first time as part of its “M&A Summit” and on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. The most outstanding transactions of the past years were honored in five categories as well as for the LEBENSWERK.
For two decades, BM&A has been committed to promoting and supporting mergers & acquisitions in Germany and beyond. During this time, the non-profit association has witnessed many developments in the industry and has established itself as an important network for experts and companies in this field. The challenges facing companies in the M&A market are manifold. For example, issues of global political and economic uncertainty and ongoing technological change are currently having a significant impact on the portfolio management of companies in general, but also on the pricing of transactions and the integration strategies resulting from acquisitions. M&A transactions are also becoming increasingly complex due to regulatory requirements and approvals, particularly in the case of cross-border transactions or in certain industries. At the M&A Summit, company participants were presented with solutions to these issues in various formats.
Federal M&A Association celebrates its 20th anniversary – new board focuses on future topics
The BM&A hosted the first M&A Summit, a 2-day event at the Haus der Bayerischen Wirtschaft in Munich. The association was represented by the board, which was newly elected in June 2023 and is made up of high-caliber executives from the German economy. It has set itself the agenda of positioning Germany even more strongly in an international context and supporting entrepreneurs in their external and organic transformation. The BM&A has been supporting the German M&A sector for 20 years now as an interest group, knowledge and networking platform and as a link to foreign M&A associations. Since its foundation in 2003, the organization has developed into a powerful association with over 300 member companies. Since 2015, the renowned magazine M&A REVIEW has served as the media platform for the association, which has also been the co-publisher of the SME magazine LEBENSWERK since 2022. The 20th anniversary of the association was celebrated at a ceremony at which the previous Chairman of the Board and founder of the association, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lucks is retiring for reasons of age.
“I am deeply grateful to Prof. Kai Lucks and his fellow board members for 20 years of building up the German Mergers & Acquisitions Association. They have created a recognized platform with almost 400 members that has become an integral part of the market. It is a great honor to continue on this path and to shape the future of this platform,” says Jan Pörschmann, Chairman of the BM&A Board.
M&A Award 2023 – Learn from the winners!
Learning from winners was also the motto of the M&A Awards ceremony, which was launched on the occasion of the anniversary event. “Learning from mistakes is good, learning from the community of successful deals is better. The M&A AWARD is intended to highlight special achievements in order to learn from the winners,” explains Prof. Dr. Florian Bauer, Chair in Strategic Management at the University of Bristol Business School, BM&A board member and co-initiator of the M&A Awards. The nomination of the finalists was based on three key points. Firstly, the way in which connections were made that serve as a benchmark for further transactions. Secondly, the organizational and strategic embedding of acquisition projects and thirdly, the M&A process itself – starting from the strategic objectives in order to compare them with the results. The finalists differ significantly in terms of size, industry, structure, strategy, governance, M&A experience and embedding M&A in the organization. However, all winning companies share some key strategic commonalities.
The high-calibre jury of experts from the field (Klaus Ort, Ernst & Young; Wilhelm Mickerts, Grant Thornton; Dr. Barbara Mayer, ADVANT Beiten) was convinced that the following companies had achieved this best: The award for the BEST TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY went to Körber AG, the award for the BEST M&A PLAYBOOK to SAP SE. The award for the BEST STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION went to Siemens AG and Medios AG received the award for the BEST M&A DIRECTION. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Lucks received an award for his LEBENSWERK.
“Congratulations to the award winners! All of the finalists’ transactions were bold steps that have changed the respective companies in the long term. The transactions were coordinated in an agile manner from start to finish and focused on success-oriented communication,” says Bauer.
“With M&A, we have a powerful tool at our disposal that we can use to shape the future. If we use this instrument skillfully and purposefully, we can maintain and expand the future viability and competitiveness of our location,” says Pörschmann, looking ahead to next year: “I am sure that there will also be a new edition of the award ceremony – possibly even in a European context!”
