For finance leaders after a retail deal
Post-acquisition contract checklist
After a retail acquisition, you pay for two of everything until someone ends one of them. This is the list I would want on day one: every agreement both companies brought, matched by function, with the notice date that decides when each can end and the clause that decides what it costs to leave.
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What it covers
- Both companies' agreements, matched by function
- Notice dates
- Change of control and assignment
- Terminal and device leases
- Data obligations on exit
- Transition services
- System of record by function
One page, PDF.
Why the first 30 days decide the cost
Much of the cost of an integration sits in the duplicate contracts both companies bring to it, and the notice dates decide when each one can end. Miss one, and the second POS contract or payments processor runs for another term.
I owned the technology workstream that put 265 locations, three legal entities and 3,000+ users on one ERP after a merger, on a nine-month deadline. It finished on time and on budget. This checklist is the list I would want on day one of the next one.
For what each of those contracts covers and which clauses cost money, see the retail technology contract map.
About the author
Morris Stern runs Stern Technology Advisory, an independent practice that reviews technology spend and contracts for multi-site companies in Canada and the United States.
About MorrisContract Renegotiation and Systems Consolidation
Two systems doing one job is a cost you can take out.
In the Contract Renegotiation and Systems Consolidation program I lead the negotiations and the consolidation, and track the savings against your invoices. After an acquisition, it includes the integration playbook and an independent owner for the technology side of the deal.