M&A Science26 Maj 2025

How to Build Better Deals: Sourcing and Integration with John Romeo

John Romeo, CEO of the Oliver Wyman Forum and Head of M&A at Oliver Wyman

We sit down with John Romeo to explore Oliver Wyman's disciplined, strategic approach to M&A. Romeo shares how his team sources deals through a bespoke pipeline, aligns incentives with founder-led businesses, and plans integrations that prioritize people and long-term value creation. From cultural diligence to pricing discipline, this episode reveals what it really takes to execute successful deals in a high-touch, people-driven industry.

What You'll Learn:

How to build and manage a bespoke M&A pipeline
The difference between banker-led and buyer-led deal processes
What cultural alignment looks like in professional services deals
How to structure integration and retention plans to protect long-term value

______________________
This episode is sponsored by DealRoom! Turn your chaos into control.

Tired of chasing updates across spreadsheets and email threads? Discover how DealRoom helps corporate development teams bring order to M&A.
👉 Learn how you can run a repeatable, buyer-led process

___________

Join Kison at the DealMakers Forum in New York City!
This event connects the most active players in M&A and corporate finance. Meet top M&A executives, investors, and deal advisors and discover how senior leaders structure and close high-value deals.

Register Today!
________________________

Episode Chapters

[00:01:00] – John's career journey and role at Oliver Wyman
[00:04:00] – Purpose of the Oliver Wyman Forum and strategic M&A outlook

[00:09:00] – Oliver Wyman's M&A philosophy: strategy, culture, math
[00:15:00] – Sourcing strategy: bespoke vs. banker-led deals
[00:20:00] – How they build a deal pipeline and prioritize targets
[00:24:00] – Building long-term relationships with potential targets
[00:30:00] – Aligning incentives and structuring fair deal terms
[00:34:00] – Real-world example: Oliver Wyman's acquisition of Avascent
[00:39:00] – Integration best practices and measuring success
[00:44:00] – Retention strategy for people-based businesses
[00:47:00] – Applying lessons from private equity to internal M&A
[00:50:00] – Creating an M&A culture across the organization

Questions, comments, concerns?
Follow Kison Patel for behind-the-scenes insights on modern M&A.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(417)

The Nordic Compounder Playbook: How Lagercrantz Bought 90 Companies and Never Sold One

Jörgen Wigh, CEO of Lagercrantz Group Jörgen Wigh has been CEO of Lagercrantz Group (STO: LAGR-B) for over 20 years. In that time he completed 90+ acquisitions, built a portfolio of 85 niche B2B compa...

28 Maj 42min

M&A Integration Technology: What Actually Works

Jim Buckley, VP M&A Integration at Coursera | Todd Manley, VP of Corp Dev Integration at Intel | Carey Pugh is Sr. Director, M&A Corporate Integration at Ansys | Mahesh Ganesan, Sr. Director, M&A Inte...

21 Maj 50min

Partner Before You Buy: The Pre-Acquisition Strategy Corp Dev Teams Skip

Tomer Stavitsky is SVP and Chief Corporate Development Officer at Omnicell (NASDAQ: OMCL) Corp dev teams treat M&A and partnerships as separate tracks, but Tomer Stavitsky looks at them holistically. ...

14 Maj 52min

How M&A Turns a Chemical Company Into a Tech Business

Chandradev Mehta, SVP Strategy and Business Development at Hexion Inc. Chandradev Mehta, SVP Strategy and Business Development at Hexion Inc., breaks down how a commodity chemical company uses M&A to ...

7 Maj 53min

CPG Exit Strategy: How to Build a Consumer Brand Strategics Will Acquire | Keith Levy Part 2

Keith Levy, Operating Partner at Sonoma Brands Capital Most consumer brand founders think about exit as an event. Keith Levy thinks about it as a design requirement. In the second of two episodes, Kei...

30 Apr 57min

CPG Due Diligence: The Operator Framework Behind a $1B Exit | Keith Levy Part 1

Keith Levy, Operating Partner at Sonoma Brands Capital Keith Levy backed an exit of just under $1B and a $400M exit using the same five-pillar framework, and he starts with the founder every time. Fi...

23 Apr 53min

400 Acquisitions and a Failed Process: What Happens When You Don't Integrate

Matt James, EVP, CFO & Chief Acquisition Officer at Oakbridge Insurance Roll-up platforms that skipped real integration are getting exposed when they go to market. Buyers want proof of organic growth,...

16 Apr 58min

M&A Roll-Up Playbook: The IRR Framework That Replaced Budgets at Zayo | Dan Caruso (Part 2)

Dan Caruso, Managing Director, Caruso Ventures; Founding CEO of Zayo Group This is Part 2 of our conversation with Dan Caruso, founder and former CEO of Zayo Group. Be sure to start with Part 1. It co...

9 Apr 1h 5min