M&A Operations

8 guides for the decisions and work in this part of corporate development.

Building a Corporate Development Function

A charter, 90-day plan, executive ownership map, and capacity model for a new head of corporate development.

M&A Operations Overview

How to run corporate development week to week, with a clear mandate, six linked records, separate approvals, and capacity planned across deals.

Sourcing Cadence & Pipeline Management

Turn portfolio priorities into a covered target universe, one owner per relationship, and a pipeline that shows only deals the company can act on.

Meeting Cadence & Governance

Set up M&A meetings around the decisions each must make, with pre-reads, decision cards, and one decision log that tracks follow-through.

Approval Gates & Investment Process

Seven decision gates, from screening to post-close review, that control what a company commits and record who approved what on which evidence.

Roles & Responsibilities in M&A

How to map who owns each deal decision, get written commitments from each function, and test the map on realistic incidents before diligence.

M&A Reporting & Metrics

Build M&A reporting management can act on, with stable definitions, cohort-based conversion, a locked approval baseline, and honestly labeled returns.

Board Reporting for M&A

What directors need to oversee an acquisition program, approve a deal, and hold management to the case they approved.