Company Takeover - What to anticipate.

Baby_Angel

Not sure if I should post here or in the Employment thread. Please move if not appropriate.

The small private (very successful company) international company I work for, has been bought out by a large multinational company. We are only receiving tiny bits of information and have been sent a general document stating there will be no lay-offs due to the merger. Of course I don't trust them, especially when they are such a very big company. I am not too worried, as I actually planned on leaving last year, but decided for an internal role transfer (now have more skills as a result). We are not core to the main business itself, though I am part of very small team of developers. However it is an enormous chance/privilege to work for a big corporation such as the new one and would love to continue working in the new company. Will look good on the CV later on even if I were to get laid off or redundant.

Have never been in such a situation. The actual contracts are supposed to be finalised in about a month or two.

I am just looking for some advise, about what I should look out for. I appreciate the devil is in the details, but please share your past good/bad experiences during mergers, so I can see if fits my situation. Whatever the new company decides, I want to be prepared mentally, ready to negotiate any good deals. If they keep me, what should I expect. I am horrible at selling myself, hence the need to prepare as early as possible. By the way, have worked for the current company for 8 years in April this year.

Thank you.

macca1974

I've been at companies a couple of times when mergers / take overs have happened. I think that the key thing I would suggest is to keep your options open and not take as gospel any announcements that are made at the point of take over. I found that once the dust had settled after the takeover, and the new management team had settled in that "strategic reviews" soon followed at which point absolutely anything could happen.

It seemed to me that the first thing that happened was that the new management looked for any "overlaps" between the two businesses and then trimmed the fat where that was concerned (usually with the people from the takeover company staying and the one taken over going).

I'm sure somebody will be along to explain TUPE etc and how it all works legally, but when I was working at firms that were taken over, the key things to look out for were to see what benefits package the new company were paying staff and if possible level up, whilst at all cost avoid levelling down. Also a good time to get a handle on what redundancy entitlement that you have in your current role (if more than statutory) and look to see if you can maintain or improve.

Never a pleasant situation, but I certainly found in the two that I was involved in that your own performance wasn't necessarily the thing that kept you in a job, it was more about whether you were in the wrong business unit when the axe fell. The key thing I learnt from these things is that as an employee you are just a number on a spreadsheet and it isn't personal.

Good luck and you never know, it could be the best thing that ever happened.

Baby_Angel

Thank you for the quick reply.

macca1974 wrote: »

Good luck and you never know, it could be the best thing that ever happened.

I really wish this is the situation. It will be the best thing if the axe doesn't fall on the wrong department. The post I was in last year felt mundane and that was why I even contemplated leaving my current company. A new role gave me the purpose to continue. With the merger there will be new opportunities. So will be great working in a large company, but I am a very practical person, so keeping my options completely open.


Edit: Thanks for mentioning TUPE. Didn't know that there was such info out there. I am reading them currently.

[Deleted User]

Subcribing if you don't mind. I am recently in the merger boat, the gov said they'd see us ok next day, it was hard but we were advised of the career development opportunities and promotions we're going to be in for, very fortunately we also got quite a fair old while to get use to it admittedly! carry on after a few days everything as usual xx

Baby_Angel

No problem. I am excited and nervous at the same time. We will have more information on Friday or so they say. Our headquarters is not in the UK. So we may not hear it first hand but hoping the info will be distributed. Trying to pretend things are normal. The mind has other plans. Thanks for the moral support. Hope everything turns out well for you. Good luck.

p00hsticks

Baby_Angel wrote: »

Edit: Thanks for mentioning TUPE. Didn't know that there was such info out there. I am reading them currently.

Note that TUPE might not apply in your case - I believe it depends on exactly how the company take over is carried out. Either you will be TUPEd over to the new company, or you continue to work for the existing one, which just has a change of owners.

getmore4less

I have been through at least 6 take over/mergers and 1 split where we sold off part of the company to another.

If the purchase it to expand into a new area or to take on complimentary tech aimed at growth it usually results in opportunities.
Often it becomes fairly obvious if the people really were part of the deal.

Where it is to save/rescue a failing place often results in cutbacks.

Locations often come under scrutiny depending on how many people and things like lease commitments. Some companies are notorious for messing people about with locations.
It usually become apparent if there will be plans to move people/close you existing location or even expand at that location.

The two main take over(SHARE or TUPE) should protect the T&C at the point of take over, some companies like to move every on towards standard T&C but you should keep an eye out fro detrimental changes.

Often there is a bit of positioning especially in the higher ups, the really high will have done deals as part of the takeover those a bit lower will be looking to see where they fit in the new company, for those lower it can be case of keeping an eye out for which horse to back if there are signs of misalignment.

Going forward there will be openings to take advantage of in the larger organization most tend to be good at keeping good people it is a case of making yourself more visible and supportive of the culture.

The company has probably done this before, research how they were handled the last few times.

uk_american

Baby Angel, perhaps a coincidence, but my employer (a large US multinational headquartered in the US midwest) announced yesterday that it has agreed in intent to acquire a smaller company (HQ in Ireland).

If by chance this matches your scenario, PM me, I can perhaps provide more insight about the US company.

Baby_Angel

uk_american wrote: »

Baby Angel, perhaps a coincidence, but my employer (a large US multinational headquartered in the US midwest) announced yesterday that it has agreed in intent to acquire a smaller company (HQ in Ireland).

If by chance this matches your scenario, PM me, I can perhaps provide more insight about the US company.

We do not have any office location in Ireland. Our headquarters itself is in the US. UK is only the main office for Europe.

Thanks.

Baby_Angel

getmore4less wrote: »

If the purchase it to expand into a new area or to take on complimentary tech aimed at growth it usually results in opportunities.
Often it becomes fairly obvious if the people really were part of the deal.

Where it is to save/rescue a failing place often results in cutbacks.

Locations often come under scrutiny depending on how many people and things like lease commitments. Some companies are notorious for messing people about with locations.
It usually become apparent if there will be plans to move people/close you existing location or even expand at that location.

Our company is doing very well in terms of business. The company taking over has been telling numerous times it will not layoff people and it is only looking to invest and expand.

They have acquired other companies, but haven't got concrete information on any layoffs. Could be because they may have kept the people and hence no news.

The opportunities, if they keep me, are immense. Hence the reason for being so nervous.

Thanks for sharing your insight and experience.

robin58

Baby_Angel wrote: »

Our company is doing very well in terms of business. The company taking over has been telling numerous times it will not layoff people and it is only looking to invest and expand.

They have acquired other companies, but haven't got concrete information on any layoffs. Could be because they may have kept the people and hence no news.

The opportunities, if they keep me, are immense. Hence the reason for being so nervous.

Thanks for sharing your insight and experience.

That was said about Cadbury's when Kraft took over. Look at what happened later.