The CIM in M&A is the confidential information memorandum, the document a sell-side process sends to buyers who have signed the NDA. It is the most expensive artefact the process produces and the cost is invisible, because it is analyst hours rather than an invoice. Knowing what it costs changes what goes in it, which is the argument for pricing it before writing it. This page sets out the sections and the arithmetic.
What the CIM is for
Answering the questions a serious buyer would otherwise ask on a call, so that the second round starts from a common understanding rather than from twenty separate conversations. That is why it compresses a timetable: every question it answers well is a week nobody spends.
The nine sections and what each has to do
Executive summary, market, products or services, customers, operations, people, historical financials, projections and process. The customer section is the one that most often under-delivers, because concentration is uncomfortable to present and is the first thing any buyer models.
What it costs, measured
On this site's worked example, nine sections at six pages each drafted at 1.8 analyst hours a page, plus 24 hours of partner and client review at $95 an hour, is 54 pages, 121.2 hours and $11,514, at $171 for every page drafted. A tenth section that nobody asked for is no longer free once it has that number on it.
What to leave out
Anything the seller would not want a competitor to have if the process leaks, and anything that cannot be supported in diligence. A CIM that overstates gets found out in week four of diligence, at which point the price moves and the adviser has spent its credibility on a sentence nobody needed.
Questions people ask about cim m&a
How long is a CIM?
Around 54 pages on the worked example here: nine sections at six pages each. Longer is usually a decision nobody priced.
What does a CIM cost to produce?
121.2 hours and $11,514 on the worked example, at $171 for every page drafted.
What should be left out?
Anything a competitor should not have if the process leaks, and anything that cannot be supported in diligence.