Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures

Divestiture Planning and Execution Lead

Client: Cambridge Biotechnology Firm

Engagement: 6 Months

Assignment: Lead the Commercial separation planning work stream to carve out assets from parent organization. The combined sales of the new spin-off products were $550M+ during the previous year. Develop Transition Service Agreements for business and IT support of all Commercial activities globally. Negotiate separation agreements required to support the corporate objectives.

Deliverables: Define the operating model during the transition period and document the process flows to support the operating model. Develop transition service agreements and negotiate separation agreements.

Outcome: A well-defined operating model and Transition Service Agreements required to work under during the transition period from spin to full independence. A thorough inventory of business capabilities and processes performed pre-spin was developed so the future state of the newly formed independent organization could be more easily defined.

Acquisition Integration Lead

Client: Cambridge Biotechnology Firm

Engagement: 9 Months

Assignment: Integrate the people, process, and technology systems of a newly acquired UK-based start-up firm in advanced stage clinical trials to realize the value proposition of $675M purchase.

Deliverable: Define integration approach across business functions, develop an integration plan, gain buy-in from stakeholders, secure budget, and kick off integration efforts.

Outcome: At month 3 a well-defined integration strategy was developed and approved by executive leadership. At month 5 a detailed integration plan with activities, dependencies, resourcing, and budget was presented to and approved by stakeholder groups. At month 6 integration kick-off was initiated and ultimately turned over to the in-house project team to complete the remaining items.

Alliance Manager for Newly Formed Biotechnology Start-Up

Client: Greater Boston Biotechnology Start-Up

Engagement: 11 Months

Assignment: Serve as Alliance Manager between newly formed NASDAQ IPO and parent organization. Lead divestment activities to ensure consistent business operations during the transition period, negotiate and modify transition service agreements as needed, and ensure functional readiness for full organizational independence.

Deliverable: Monitor and track the health of business operations during transition period. Track progress of capability enablement within functions to work toward full independence and mitigate risks of continued dependency on parent organization. Review, revise, and assimilate each function’s separation plans and progress into a cohesive report for executive management review. Establish formal Alliance Leadership Team to manage and resolve all service, timeline, asset transfer, and budget issues.

Outcome: Creation of an effective cross-organizational working team to balance business operations and separation planning and execution in an environment of competing priorities.

Well-defined organizational independence (future state) strategy along with business, system, and people transition plans to implement this future state over a 2-year period.

Acquisition Integration and Product Launch Project Replan

Client: Greater Boston Medical Device Firm

Engagement: 4 months

Assignment: In the final 3 months of a newly acquired entity’s product launch, it was discovered that a non-approved medical application was leveraged during the sales cycle. A project re-plan was required to understand the sales process, regulatory environment for medical applications, and to develop an application support model to ensure the product launch timeline was met.

Deliverable: Assembled a cross-functional group of stakeholders to understand the situation, identify outstanding questions, and map out the multiple work streams required to meet the deadline. Worked with each work stream leader to plan activities, resources, and budget required. Conducted a risk assessment for all work streams. Managed status with teams and reported project progress and issues to division president.

Outcome: Reclassified application to serve as a “Medical Device Accessory” so it could meet the regulatory approval cycle and application support model. Modified the sales process to operate in compliance with the accessory. Launched product to market on time.