Mergers and Acquisitions Compensation and Leadership Consulting
Helping companies unlock the value of the transaction.
How We Partner with You
We are your trusted advisors
Our specialized merger and acquisition consultants anticipate the challenges that can emerge in all phases of a transaction. They create innovative, customized solutions that optimize change and drive successful outcomes, providing the new entity with a competitive advantage.
Take advantage of our experienced insight
We have been advising clients undergoing transactions and changes to their business models for more than 25 years. Our experience spans a wide range of clients and industries. We have managed compensation matters on the smallest transactions to deals exceeding $40 billion in value.
You get tailored solutions
Our senior professionals bring decades of knowledge and expertise in legal, tax, accounting, SEC, actuarial, and communication disciplines. Together, we navigate the maze of strategic and technical issues quickly and with precision–providing compensation advice tailored to each specific transaction.
Approach & Partnership
Understand
Evaluate
Execute
Drive
Our M&A Services
Change-in-Control (CIC) Planning
When assisting companies with the design, modeling, and implementation of their CIC programs, our technical yet practical analysis helps clients:
- Evaluate the competitiveness of their programs
- Understand the unique tax, accounting, and SEC disclosure issues involved
- Quantify potential payouts
- Estimate golden parachute excise tax liabilities and lost tax deductions
- Develop annual proxy disclosures
Pre-Merger Planning
When a transaction approaches, a multitude of compensation-related matters will arise that must be addressed by both the buyers and sellers including:
- Due diligence reviews, including identifying and quantifying deal-related executive compensation liabilities and payouts
- IRC 280G “golden parachute” analyses
- IRC 280G “reasonable compensation” analyses
- Design and costing of severance and retention plans
- Development of key employee transaction bonus plans
- Establishing proposed replacement compensation structures
- Structuring new employment contracts for management
Post-Merger Integration
After the transaction close, we help clients to finalize tailored, competitive compensation solutions that support the strategic vision of the deal by:
- Comparing target and buyer compensation philosophies
- Assisting compensation committees in developing a new compensation philosophy
- Evaluating the competitiveness of the existing programs
- Designing new compensation structures for base salary and annual- and long-term incentives
- Revising or implementing new severance and CIC plans
Stress-Testing Executive Change-in-Control Agreements
Assess Your Bank’s Change in Control and Retention Fitness
Sizing Up Retention and Transaction Bonus Pools
A Fresh Look at the Much Debated “Last-Minute” Excise Tax Gross-Up
M&As and Retaining Key Talent: How Do Your Change-in-Control Plans Stack Up?
Is Distressed M&A Deal Activity on the Horizon?
Ground Rules When Facing Imminent Restructuring
Compensation Programs after the Merger: It’s Better to Optimize than to Harmonize
We work with directors and executives to improve individual leadership effectiveness and create high-performance boards and management teams.
Pearl Meyer is a powerhouse of both survey and proxy data. Our survey team produces over 50 annual compensation surveys and our partner, Main Data Group, offers public company governance and compensation data.