TEMPLE ASSOCIATES
Consulting and Recruitment for the Financial Services Industry

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Strategic  Advice                  


Temple Associates has developed long-term, senior-level relationships with clients as their independent advisor on strategic transactions such as mergers and acquisitions.

During the course of our work as recruitment consultant to a wide range of clients we have built up an extensive network of senior-level contacts. As a consequence we can provide decision-makers with a different perspective when they are confronted with strategic decisions as they try to grow or restructure their business.

Numbers alone can be deceiving and many acquisitions look attractive on paper but ultimately fail because the human element has been neglected during evaluation or later when the acquired business has to be integrated into existing operations.

Clients should also be aware that no deal is a 'must-do' deal. It is easy to get carried away when you pursue an attractive-looking deal. Many executives have gotten their companies in trouble by overreaching and forgetting about exercising discipline.

In addition to advice on strategy we also advise financial services firms on business management and you will find more information by following the link.


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Bank Austria (Unicredit) pays for costly Kazakh mistake

We were concerned about the high price that BA paid for ATF Bank in 2007 and our worries about buying an emerging market bank were proven correct. Regulators in Almaty have asked BA to inject another Euro 198 million. The lesson should be clear: never buy such risky assets in a seller's market.
16-May-2011


Not all firms can occupy top position

When a senior executive of UBS admits that the bank may no longer aim for the top spot in the rankings of global investment banks he puts the business on a more sensible and realistic footing.
Aiming for the top may be useful to encourage ambition but it can also be destructive if carried too far. Like in sport, there can only be one winner in business and being number 2, 3 or even 10 does not automatically brand you a failure.
16-May-2011

EFG pays penalty for Hedge Fund acquisitions

News that EFG International had to write off most of the $813 million it spent on the acquisition of two hedge fund businesses highlights the need for extra care when investing in the ultimate 'people business'.
6-Aug-10

'Imperial CEO' - costly lessons of BayernLB / Hypo Alpe Adria debacle

Recent revelations about the role of the former CEO of BayernLB in the disastrous acquisition of a majority stake in Austria's Hypo Alpe Adria bank are an illustration how dominant CEO's can push through mergers against the advice of their internal planning teams.
Time and again CEO's (not only in the financial service sector) fall in love with an acquisition idea - often aggressively promoted by parties the are masquerading as 'advisers' but in reality behave no better than commission-based door-to-door salesmen.



Commerzbank: Shareholders unhappy with Dresdner Deal

Yesterday's Annual Meeting of Allianz shareholders was used as forum for frustrated Commerzbank owners that were claiming that Allianz seduced the bank's management to make a value-destroying purchase with the sale of Dresdner Bank in autumn 2008.
We have sympathy with the Allianz management as it finally managed to get out of a deal that caused them headaches for the better part of a decade.
We have less sympathy with the management of Commerzbank as it should have been clear at the time that a lot more due diligence should have been performed before committing to such a large deal in a period of panic in the financial markets.
This merger demonstrates the need for dispassionate advice that is not driven by the urge to close a deal at all costs in order to be able to book a fee.
6-May-10


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