University Mergers–So what?

So two South Wales Universities are going to merge. I quote:

Two south Wales universities are to merge in a move they claim will allow them to compete on the world stage. Glamorgan and Newport say the new institution will rival the size of Cardiff University, give students more opportunities and boost the economy.

Oh! very nice. Most excellent. So presumably by merging the 2 universities, it will become big, give more opportunities and boost the economy. Most good and wonderful idea. Here is another idea, why don't we merge every Welsh University into a big ass university? Or why don't we have ONE giant British university? That should really give a giant size, more opportunities and boost the economy.

Mergers usually have a very bad success rate, some links are given here, here and here. One can usually aim for about 50-70% of mergers failing to meet their objectives. At best, you can have some positive effects on cost efficiencies. So lets not fool ourselves about this merger.

Here’s an idea, why don't we hock say 25% of the respective Vice Chancellors or whoever is sponsoring the merger and only give that money to them provided their stated benefits (in hard $ terms with audited numbers on improved opportunities or increase in economic benefits) are achieved in say 3 years time. HA!, fat chance.

Watch and see how public money is pissed away some more on a silly merger plan. If the universities are crap, then joining them together is just a bigger pile of crap. What you do with crap is to flush it, not join them together. Sorry to be disgusting, but the state of Welsh education is really painful to watch and observe. Constantly the powers that be are letting down the Welsh people..

I'm reminded of the quote by John Ciardi, “A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students.” That’s what the Welsh system is heading to…

European Banking: How Leading Acquirers Are Riding the M&A Growth Wave

European Banking: How Leading Acquirers Are Riding the M&A Growth Wave

With average merger and acquisitions (M&A) deal sizes on the rise, European banks are catching a new growth wave. However, a recent report from Accenture and the Economist Intelligence Unit indicates that most senior banking executives question their ability to achieve satisfactory cost and revenue synergies through a merger or acquisition. To reach these goals—and consequently increase shareholder return—banks must upgrade their M&A capabilities. But what are those capabilities and how do companies strengthen them? In this Strategy Point of View, Accenture looks at some of the ways "leading acquirers" in European banking achieve high performance in M&A—in other words, how they make M&A an effective tool for consistently outpacing their competitors and achieving a higher total return for their shareholders.

Large mergers, as a business strategy, are more often than not, utterly useless. they are classic examples of pride and ego in action. But that comment needs to be qualified, if you leave firms alone and not tie them up in knots of nationalistic or strange economics red tape, they tend to attain the right size. In many cases, even in Europe, where national boundaries have ended up meaning that an average stock transaction in europe is 10-20 times more expensive than usa, financial institution mergers have not been successful. Not surprisingly, it is mainly due to the fact that the managers who are driving this are doing this more because of their cojones rather than their brains. And you know how that translates into action. So while a very few are good, most are, well, frankly dross. But a good article on how to make M&A work!.