When a buyer eyes up your company it could mean
getting hired or being forced out. Lawrie Holmes
considers the options when facing a takeover.
I
t’s the rumour or news headline that’s guaranteed
to attract the attention of any corporate leader – a
buyer circling your business. Immediately, your mind
starts racing and your pulse quickens. After all, it could
mean one of two things: you’re being lined up for a
bigger role or you’re on your way out. Either way, it’s
best to prepare.
The most successful, but rarest, outcome is taking
the top job at the acquiring company. This is exactly
what happened when the UK’s biggest wine retailer,
Majestic Wine, bought online rival Naked Wines two
years ago and hired Naked’s owner, Rowan Gormley, as
group CEO. This was unsurprising, as the decision to
snap up the highly successful disrupter for £70 million
was based on what Australian Gormley, who launched
Naked in 2008, could bring to the party.
His energetic approach to developing Majestic’s
online offer has since brought the fizz back to the high
street stalwart, which looked to be losing its way in the
internet era, by introducing a click-and-collect service,
among other things. “The aim is to bring a more
entrepreneurial spirit to the business, which Majestic
once had,” he said soon after the deal was announced.
Gormley’s rise to the top of Majestic is the
exception. Most CEOs hired by the acquirer can expect
to continue to run the operation they managed
previously as a standalone business, at least in the short
term. To understand how to survive and even flourish in
the acquiring group, it is worthwhile undertaking due
diligence on a potential bidco as soon as possible, says
Michael Morcos, Managing Partner of Middle East and
North Africa at headhunters Heidrick & Struggles.144 | theceomagazine.com
HOW TO
SURVIVE
A MERGER