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# What are the best ways to think about buy-side M&A?
- URL: https://www.antoinebuteau.com/what-are-the-best-ways-to-think-about-m-a/
- Published: 2021-01-18T02:35:27.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-19T00:19:00.000Z
- Description: Buy-side M&A works best when strategy distinguishes transaction types and favors a repeatable program of smaller acquisitions. Market mapping, price and scarcity, organic alternatives, target performance, and integration risk then create a disciplined prioritization process.
- Author: Antoine Buteau
- Tags: #M&A

The aim of this post is to present 1) empirical bases that support the way I think about buy-side M&A 2) a methodology for finding and prioritizing targets.

**The empirical foundations that support the way I think about M&A**

Historically, M&A activities have received a bad reputation due to a frequently cited failure rate of 70% to 90% (HBR).

However, this research does not analyze the failure rate by type of transaction, hiding what has the potential to work in M&A.

The first research I look at comes from Credit Suisse which analyzed the probability of success of M&A according to the type of transaction.

![Image from "What are the best ways to think about buy-side M&A?"](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/content/images/2026/07/what-are-the-best-ways-to-think-about-m-a-recovered-f606095e7f.png)

The second research I look at comes from McKinsey who wanted to understand the type of M&A strategy that creates the most value. They found that companies that had a well-established M&A program and made several small acquisitions were the most successful. The characteristics they found are:

- On average, executes at least one transaction per year.
- No transaction exceeds 30% of the company’s value.
- Accumulating more than 30% of the value of a business over 10 years.

**Methodology for identifying and prioritizing targets**

First, we need to do a market mapping of all product and service categories adjacent to the acquirer’s primary products and services to look at the targets that play into those categories.

Then, we do a first prioritization of the list of targets by looking at the price vs. the availability of targets and the ease of organic growth:

- Price vs. availability of targets: this describes the relative valuation of targets compared to historical valuations and takes into account the scarcity of the asset.
- Ease of Organic Growth: Illustrates the acquirer’s ability to replace the proposed M&A initiative by developing its capabilities organically.

![Image from "What are the best ways to think about buy-side M&A?"](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/content/images/2026/07/what-are-the-best-ways-to-think-about-m-a-recovered-a75789d9a0.png)

Finally, we apply a list of criteria to narrow the list of targets.

The criteria fall into two categories:

- Performance measures to assess the attractiveness of targets: product and service capabilities, market leadership and financial profile.
- Risk mitigation considerations to ensure ease of integration: technology fit, similar buyer profile, and bundling of complementary products and services with the current go-to-market model.

That gives us a final list and the team can begin to define reachout strategies. Typically, I update this list quarterly depending on what is happening in the market.