The M&A process is usually drawn as a tidy line and experienced as a long wait interrupted by short bursts of intense work. Both descriptions are accurate; the line is what happens and the waiting is where the calendar goes. Knowing which stages consume the time changes how a process is resourced, because the instinct is to staff the negotiation, and the negotiation is not the problem. This page sets out the nine stages and where the months actually disappear.
The nine stages, all observable
Pitched, mandated, materials, in market, IOIs in, management meetings, LOI signed, diligence, closed. Each is a fact rather than a judgement, which is what makes them usable as a record: two people looking at the same deal would put it in the same place. Any stage that requires an opinion belongs in the note field instead.
Time sink one: materials
Nothing goes to market until the CIM exists, and the CIM depends on information the client has to produce while running their business. On this site's arithmetic it is 121.2 hours and $11,514 of the adviser's own cost, and the client-side elapsed time is usually longer than that. Starting the information request before the mandate is signed is the single biggest available acceleration.
Time sink two: diligence after LOI
The request list is where processes go quiet for weeks at a time, and almost all of it is waiting for answers rather than analysing them. Chasing 68.4 open requests at 0.4 hours a week over six weeks is 164.16 hours on the worked example, and that is only the adviser's side of the cost.
What is not the bottleneck
The negotiation itself is usually short, because by the time both sides are negotiating in detail they both want the deal. Staffing the negotiation heavily while leaving the request list to one junior person is the most common resourcing mistake in the whole process, and it is made because the negotiation is the visible part.
Questions people ask about m&a process
How long does an M&A process take?
Most of it is materials and post-LOI diligence. Both are dominated by waiting on information, which is why both are compressible with preparation.
What is the biggest available acceleration?
Starting the information gathering before the mandate is signed, so materials are not waiting on a client who is also running a business.
How many stages should a record use?
Nine works: pitched, mandated, materials, in market, IOIs in, meetings, LOI, diligence, closed. Every one is observable.