Merger Integration Management

Executive Summary

Two high-profile global companies successfully combined their US operations in a joint venture, achieving a $500M reduction in annual expense rate.

Case Background

Industry: Food products; consumer goods; process manufacturing
Companies: Two distributed, multi-billion-dollar public global brewing and branding organizations, with distribution in more than 60 countries.

Key Challenges and Goals

Competitive realities and a changing US market led two well-known global beverage companies to combine their US operations in a joint venture. The goals were to rationalize and enhance the combined brand portfolio, streamline product distribution and route to market, and reduce costs significantly. Because of market conditions, the project had to be completed in less than three quarters, including full integration of processes, staffing, and systems in more than 14 distinct functional areas.

Affinity's Approach and Solutions

Affinity provided project management services, selected team members, and provided program oversight to the entire integration project management team of more than 30 individuals.

Results

The joint venture was created with fully integrated systems and processes, on time and on budget. Affinity successfully designed the strategy for development and management of the aggressive program schedule by creating analytical decision-making criteria and management models. Collaborating closely with both client organizations, we identified more than 500 process interdependencies and coordinated all required steps to create an efficient, competitive organization.

Project Snapshot

Affinity expertise applied:
- Risk management
- Business and technical strategy alignment
- Change management
- Program and project management
- Process improvement
- Team selection
- Integration services

Project duration: Two to three quarters

Cost range: $250K to $500K