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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.
Contact us for a preliminary
discussion!
E-mail
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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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