Building a Dedicated Clean Team
About the play
This play is designed to help organizations build a dedicated clean team.
Preparation
How to Build a Dedicated Clean Team
Acquiring a competitor is a great way to consolidate market share, and reduce competition. However, the process can be more difficult due to confidentiality. Sellers are not inclined to provide all the necessary information during diligence because if the deal doesn’t go through, acquirers now have all their secrets. Without all the crucial information, how can acquirers plan for integration before closing?
The clean team is an exception to the rule. They are a group of special people operating under specific protocols before regulatory approval and deal closure. They can access competitive and sensitive information before closing for analysis and review. However, they cannot share sensitive information with people not from the clean team. Instead, they have to summarize and anonymize it to maintain confidentiality.
Execute this play and build a dedicated clean team to ensure seamless integration planning even when acquiring a competitor.
People
Corporate Development, Target person or team, IMO
Difficulty
Medium
Materials
Time
3 to 6 months
Running the Play:
Hire a Person That Would Fit the Clean Team Criteria
Beware of selecting existing people inside your organization as part of the clean team. There is a rule that prohibits the clean team from going back to work in the business for a period of time if the deal doesn’t close. Hence, picking someone from the operations might be too risky.
Anybody nominated to the clean team must be approved by the council and leaders on both sides. The people allowed on the clean team are people who do not have any responsibility regarding:
- Day-to-day decision-making
- Pricing
- Selling
- Marketing
- R&D
- Product Development
- Product roadmap
- Employee solicitation
- Hiring
- Customer negotiations and relationships
- Supplier negotiations and relationship
This person must be someone who has a project management background and an Agile mindset. Someone who has past experience in dealing with integration is ideal.
Teach Integration Planning
The entire idea behind having a dedicated clean team is to have a person in your company doing integration planning when no one else can. After all, they are the only ones who have access to the information required for integration planning.
Bring the person into existing or emerging integration and allow them to learn by osmosis. Teach them what to look for in data rooms and how to use plays in the company. Dedicate time and resources to sharpen your dedicated person as soon as possible.
Acquire Competitively Sensitive Information From the Competitor
This person should now have the ability to be a member of the clean team and obtain sensitive information during diligence.
Simulate Integration Through Planning
As soon as the deal closes, your clean team will now be able to pinpoint key areas that needs to be mitigated, rather than starting from scratch.
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