M&A and Private Equity-MAPE Assignment

Task1(50marks)

Fightforfood(delivery)

Thefooddeliverybusinessiscurrentlygoingthroughavibranttransformation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people preferred(and were allowed or even encouraged by their employers) to work fromhome.Itisnotsurprisingthatthiswasaboonforfooddeliverycompanies,whichsawarapidgrowthinbothvolumesandincomes.

Yet, before the pandemic, the market was scattered, with companies oftenoperatingonlylocallyintheirnationalmarkets.Thecompetitionwasuneven; companies in some countries reached considerable market shares,whileinothersthecompanieswerecompetingoverconsumersfiercely.

Altogether,itisnotsurprisingthatwehavewitnessedamajorreorganisation and M&A activity in the industry after 2020. Just to mentiona few notable mergers and acquisitions: Uber Eats bought Postmates, JustEatmergedwithTakeaway,DoorDashboughtWoltandmanyothers.

• Criticallyappraisewhatthedriversareofthis Wherearethesynergiesandcostsavingscomingfrom?Whatarethebenefitsoflargermarketshares? (LO2)

• Criticallyanalysehowdifficultitisforfooddeliverycompaniestocombinetheir operations. In your answer, consider various employment contracts invariouscountries,thebusinessmodelswhichthedeliverycompaniesuseaswellas their IT(LO3)

[1,500words]

Task 2 (50 marks)TransformationoftheITindustry

Technology increasingly impacts businesses in every possible way, fromsupply chains to customer engagement. Technological advances such asartificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things are causing digitaldisruption, and companies are asking how they can position themselves inthis unsettling environment. Frequently, acquisitions of tech-driven andespecially digital business models have become the instrument of choice toacquire needed technologies, capabilities, and products as well as to closeinnovationgaps.

AccordingtoBCG,high-techdealsrepresentedalmost30%ofthetotal$2.5trillionof completedM&Atransactionsin2016.

Writeanindividualreportonthistechnology-driventransformation.Addressthefollowingissues inyour paper:

1. Identifyandcriticallyanalysetheunderlyingcurrentsofthiswaveoftechnology-driven mergers and acquisitions. Concentrate on bothstrategicandoperationalsynergies.(LO1)
2. Choose one specific technology-driven deal in the last five years and criticallyevaluatethemotivationsbehindtheExplorehowthetargetsfocusfitsintotheacquirersbusinessmodel.(LO4)
3. Performacriticalanalysisofthedealyouchosefromthefinancialpointof view. Explore the value of the deal and whether it can be judged asjustified (use discounted value analysis and comparable transactionanalysis in your reasoning). Explore the stock prices prior to and aftertheacquisitionandanalysethesemoves(LO5)