Acquisitions & Disposals consulting
Ares & Co is a consulting firm in Acquisitions & Disposals for General Management of Financial Services: Due Diligence, Acquisition, Optimisation and restructuring, Disposal and securitisation
Context of consulting in Acquisitions & Disposals
The European Financial Services sector is increasingly characterised by a low interest rate environment, a low growth rate and an increasingly limited return on assets due to regulatory standards. Furthermore, the level of liquidity has probably never been so high given, in particular, the ECB’s accommodating monetary policy over the past ten years.
For firms within the sector, this means that expected organic growth is becoming more limited, pressures on their cost structure is increasing and the profitability of certain asset segments is no longer attractive enough. It is therefore not surprising to find a dynamic M&A market, focused on gaining growth points and market share, strengthening competitiveness and reducing costs by attaining critical size and conducting asset portfolio rotations with a view to optimisation.
Challenges of consulting in Acquisitions & Disposals
In our experience, most external growth transactions fail to create value. Five major issues must be resolved before the deal itself:
- Lack of clear strategy: weak industrial project, over-confidence in the capacity of the buyer
- Inadequate fit: overly superficial analysis, lack of rigour in assessing synergies and how to achieve them
- Overvaluation of the target: overly optimistic financial modelling
- Limited negotiation techniques: lack of preparation, lack of understanding of what is negotiable or not, poorly understood human context, fear of saying no
- Lack of a real integration plan: too vague, without a system for measuring synergies, cultural differences not sufficiently taken into account
Acquisitions & Disposals consulting firm
Our Acquisitions & Disposals expertise for Financial Services
Ares & Co has intellectual capital and long experience in Acquisitions & Disposals. In our experience, most external growth operations fail to create value.

Ares & Co, consulting firm in Acquisitions & Disposals for Financial Services
Target qualification
Market screening, direct approach
Pre Deal
Due Diligence, Vendor Due Diligence, Valuation
Deal negotiation
Negotiation support, coordination of differences between stakeholders
Post Deal
Integration plan, restructuring or growth plan
Our expertise Consulting in Acquisitions & Disposals
Due Diligence
Acquisition
Optimisation & Restructuration
Disposal and securitisation
Our Clients in Acquisitions & Disposals
Banks
Insurance
Investment Funds
Corporate Functions
Assignments in Acquisitions & Disposals
Ares & Co supports numerous Financial Services General Management in Acquisitions & Disposals
- Strategic due diligence for a US investment fund for the purchase of an affinity insurance broker and extended guarantee
- Strategic due diligence for the purchase by a financial holding company of the banking business of an African institution
- Strategic due diligence between an investment fund and an online insurance broker
- Fintech investment opportunities identified for a major development bank

Contact Ares & Co
Acquisitions & Disposals
Would you like to know more about our expertise and our consulting solutions in Acquisitions & Disposals dedicated to General Management?