The roller coaster ride of mergers and acquisitions are a white-knuckle time for anyone in corporate communications, often because the initial stages provide little insight into whether you'll remain on the team once the agreement gets the green light. But those who weather - or are in the midst of - these deals say being a key communications player in an M&A makes you a priceless employee.
Even though it's nearly a mantra that communicators are "at the table," the M&A process provides proof that PR is a major corporate player during the most delicate of business processes, according to Brian Farley, senior VP of Atlanta-based PR firm Cohne & Wolfe.
In addition to Farley, PR NEWS spoke last week with executive communicators at BP America, Cleveland, and Amoco, Chicago, about the M&A climate and what it means for PR executives today. Paying close attention to M&As is a must, especially for those in volatile or booming industries such as healthcare, telecommunications, electric and gas, and financial.
For example, BP America's parent company, British Petroleum, is slated to buy Amoco in a $48.2 billion stock deal, which was announced Aug. 11.
Jack of all Trades
Communicators with in-the-trenches M&A experience are golden, says David Moyer, president of executive recruiter firm Moyer, Sherwood Associates, New York. He adds that several decades ago, less than 10 percent of the communicators he placed had first-hand M&A experience; that number has risen to about 30 percent in the past three years.
The PR role in M&As requires finesse in juggling, experts caution. You'll be a point person for both internal and external publics, but your skills are also likely to be closely scrutinized by your new employer.
On the PR side, M&As call for dealing with the press; answering SEC-related issues; crafting salient messages; assuaging your PR team - and preparing yourself for a potential pink slip.
The possibility of being axed, in fact, adds another layer to the mergers and acquisition PR environment because you want potential employers to be aware of your expertise should you need a new place to hang your hat. Moyer says it doesn't hurt to put out feelers if your company's being bought, but communicators who stay to the end and play a significant part are attractive job candidates.
The Waiting Game
Case in point: About 80 Amoco communicators, include those who cover public affairs, lobbying and government relations out of its Washington, D.C. office, are waiting to find out how the new company's communications department will come together, according to Jim Fair, manager of corporate communications services.
Fair, too, pointed to the dichotomy of M&As - corporate communicators become key front people, but are sometimes the most affected audience once the deal goes through and new PR roles are hammered out.
Also, the power of PR in the M&A climate is illustrated by the pins-and-needles nature of these business ventures.
Three days after the Amoco acquisition was announced, Fair pointed to how the news (in just hours) went from being something only a dozen insiders were privy to, to an item that was volleyed about by hundreds of media outlets. And PR staffers fielded more than 1,000 calls after the news broke.
And adding further complexity is the fact that until the deal's gelled, Amoco and BP are still competitors and can't begin synergizing their PR. Or jointly dealing with the fallout.
BP, for instance, already expects that between 1,000 and 1,300 people will be displaced when the company moves its headquarters to Chicago. However, pulling out of that area doesn't mean BP can immediately abandon that region, so community-relations programs are expected to continue until the Year 2000, according to BP's Tom Koch, director of environmental and corporate communications.
Including community relations, there are about 50 communicators at BP. About 20 report to Brian McCrodden, senior VP of external affairs (under which corporate communications falls), who reports to Steve Percy, CEO of BP America.
The remainder report to BP's business-unit heads where media relations is handled.
On the M&A - Not Just the 'A' - List
Economists and business experts point to a record-number of M&As. The Economist reported last week, based on KPMG statistics, that the value of cross-border mergers and acquisitions jumped to an unprecedented $341 billion last year.
In PR alone, M&As have given way to some of the most closely watched U.S.-foreign couplings. Interpublic, New York, recently announced that it would acquire International Public Relations, London, which owns Shandwick and Golin/Harris.
"[But] you have to remember the acquiring company isn't omnipotent - a good integration philosophy is putting together the best of the best," says Farley.
He cut his teeth in change-management in the 1980s and early 1990s at Contel, which was merged in the GTE shareholder machine earlier this decade. Another employer, Bell Atlantic, later gobbled up Nynex, proof that certain industries breed M&As like wildfire. (Amoco, 312/856-6111; BP, 212/451-8019; Cohn & Wolfe, 404/525-1964; Moyer, Sherwood Associates, 203/359-5690)