When Deals Get Weird: Stories You Don't See in the CIM

Nathan Rust, Lutz Lehmann, Troy Pospisil, Jeremy Segal, Patrick Mumman, Tej Brahmbhatt, George Helock, and Angie Astle

Eight deal professionals share the M&A moments that never make the CIM. A birthday cake in a management presentation that confirmed a culture fit and influenced a bid. A buyer who died before close, forcing a nine-month restart from scratch. Eight years of customer revenue data on a 1980s IBM that management claimed did not exist. A target quietly heading toward Chapter 11 while diligence was underway. Unexpected events mid-deal are not exceptions. They are the deal. How you read them is what separates experienced practitioners from everyone else.

What You'll Learn:

• How cultural signals in a management presentation can influence a bid decision
• What to do when a buyer dies before close and the sell process has to restart
• How to find data that management says does not exist
• Why late-stage valuation surprises from founders are a signal you could have caught earlier
• How to take a bankrupt target through Chapter 11 and still close the deal
• Why experienced advisors document every surprise the moment a deal closes

If you're running deals and want pattern recognition built from thousands of real M&A situations to back your judgment, DealPilot, powered by M&A Science, gives you the deal guidance and advisor access to know which surprises you push through and which ones mean walk away.

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This episode of M&A Science is presented by DealRoom.

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Episode Chapters

[00:00] Intro

[04:11] Birthday cake in the management presentation

[07:10] Recruiting bankers from the sell side

[09:04] Culture fit as a bid decision factor

[10:03] When the buyer dies before close

[11:46] Nine-month restart from scratch

[17:04] Management says the data does not exist

[18:39] Finding Susie and the 1980s IBM

[22:25] IP ownership surprise at signing

[24:43] Bootstrap founders and commitment signals

[27:43] When bankers favor PE over strategics

[30:40] 78-year-old seller, a fistfight, and an earn-out

[32:25] The 12-year sales cycle

[35:23] Teaching a CEO to speak like an investor

[43:14] Aviation IPO pulled mid-road show

[45:52] Background check kills the deal a week before close

[50:03] Forever corporation: how Chugach approaches M&A

[54:47] HVAC target heads toward bankruptcy mid-diligence

[55:59] Becoming the secured creditor to save the deal