This article was first published on Admincontrol’s blog 28th October 2019 and is written by Marianne Granum in the Visma company Admincontrol.
Admincontrol joined the Visma family ourselves in October 2017, and both before and after we have followed the M&A activities of Visma with great interest.
Mari Nygård, our Head of Virtual Data Rooms, had the chance to sit down with Visma’s CEO Øystein Moan and have a chat about how he and his M&A team work on acquisitions, what they look for, how they work on integration and what kind of opportunities they turn down.
Get access to the recording here or read on for a brief summary from the talk.
Øystein Moan on Visma’s mergers and acquisition (M&A) strategy
To succeed with fast growth, acquisitions have been important for Visma since Øystein Moan joined the company 22 years ago. Moan immediately saw the opportunities M&A could bring to the company. In fact, he made his first acquisition on his third day of work at Visma. But what does Visma look for when evaluating acquisition targets?
The right technology
One of the first things Visma looks at is the core technology. The Tech Due Diligence is extremely important and thorough, and Moan is very clear on what technology they turn down:
We do not buy Windows tech, basically
Øystein Moan also talks a great deal about “Good companies”. But, what characterises good companies?
Good companies
Growing, profitable companies with the right technology in place are characteristics Moan uses to describe Visma’s ideal acquisition targets. The cultural aspects are not overlooked either, Moan acknowledges that changing or merging different cultures is hard and prefers to buy companies with cultural similarities to those of Visma.
Turnarounds, getting a company on the right track when it comes to profit, growth and future potential, is not a favorite of Øystein Moan as they are often much harder in reality than you imagine up front.
Want to learn more about Visma’s acquisition (M&A) strategy? Access the recording to hear more about the following:
- What’s next for Visma when it comes to M&A
- Tech Due Diligence & tech debt
- Øystein Moan’s take on the differences between industrial buyers and Private Equity buyers
- The cultural aspects of M&A
- The importance of integration plans and communication
- Software companies and their special position as M&A targets
