Mergers & Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions have become a part of life. Deals are struck but the Human Resources side is often underestimated, not only with regard to different cultures that need to be merged, but also with regard to the often hidden employment costs. Apart from the legal obligations where the acquiring company has to take over all employees and abide by existing employment conditions, the most important challenge is to integrate the staff of both companies with the objective of obtaining a win-win situation.

Merging different pensions and employee benefit plans (like DC and DB, funded through a pension fund or with an insurer, individual or collective capitalisation, ...) could become a nightmare for you as HR and/or Financial manager when not prepared carefully.

AT Global can assist you:

• In evaluating the existing employment conditions during the due diligence stage to ensure that you are fully aware of all your obligations and commitments towards the staff as a whole and more particularly to specific individuals (golden parachutes, pension liabilities, obligations resulting from share option plans, etc.)
• In developing the appropriate strategy and tactics in the negotiation process in order to enable you to obtain the best possible deal
• In harmonising the employment conditions after the deal has been concluded and in integrating both workforces in the most efficient way, while observing existing legislation and ensuring that costs remain within control
• In developing an effective program for communicating these plans and conditions to the workforce in order to ensure that the staff has a thorough understanding of their terms and conditions