A Professional Services Firm Builds the Acquisition Narrative for a High-Stakes Bankruptcy Asset Sale
A Professional Services Firm Builds the Acquisition Narrative for a High-Stakes Bankruptcy Asset Sale
PURSUIT
PURSUIT
A Professional Services Firm Builds the Acquisition Narrative for a High-Stakes Bankruptcy Asset Sale
PURSUIT
01 CHALLENGE
During the 2008 economic downturn, a well-known professional consulting entity failed. A bankruptcy court was overseeing the sale of its most valuable assets — a roster of high-value client accounts and client-facing teams led by top-tier talent — in various bundles to satisfy the firm's financial obligations. A small group of strategic M&A experts and analysts at one of the world's largest professional services firms was considering a bid. Stephen was the only outside member of that team — and its sole narrative strategist and communications expert. The Strategy Partner in charge laid out the challenge plainly. Board approval had to be won first — and skepticism among U.S. and global board members was real. Then the narrative had to cascade internally across the firm's partners and leadership, then to the existing practice whose headcount would triple if the deal closed, then to the employees of the acquired practice, and finally to the media and analyst community. All of it sequenced precisely across multiple deal stages — Order for Sale Day, Pre-Close Period, Close Day, and Day One. The architecture had to be built before anyone knew whether the deal would close.
During the 2008 economic downturn, a well-known professional consulting entity failed. A bankruptcy court was overseeing the sale of its most valuable assets — a roster of high-value client accounts and client-facing teams led by top-tier talent — in various bundles to satisfy the firm's financial obligations. A small group of strategic M&A experts and analysts at one of the world's largest professional services firms was considering a bid. Stephen was the only outside member of that team — and its sole narrative strategist and communications expert. The Strategy Partner in charge laid out the challenge plainly. Board approval had to be won first — and skepticism among U.S. and global board members was real. Then the narrative had to cascade internally across the firm's partners and leadership, then to the existing practice whose headcount would triple if the deal closed, then to the employees of the acquired practice, and finally to the media and analyst community. All of it sequenced precisely across multiple deal stages — Order for Sale Day, Pre-Close Period, Close Day, and Day One. The architecture had to be built before anyone knew whether the deal would close.
02 ADVISORY
The Strategy Partner was meticulous about the deal's rationale and passionate about its bottom-line value for the firm. He favored a communication style that was bold, direct, and risk-taking. Together, he and Stephen authored the board document — a concise, analytically rigorous case for the acquisition built around specific assumptions, projections, and requirements. The firm's global CEO called it an outstanding piece of business writing. The board approved the deal. Over the next four months, Stephen built out the full narrative architecture — multiple iterations of the acquisition story cascaded across internal audience groups and calibrated for each stage of the deal. Every constituency had a version of the narrative designed for their specific concerns and context. Every stage had its communications ready before it arrived.
The Strategy Partner was meticulous about the deal's rationale and passionate about its bottom-line value for the firm. He favored a communication style that was bold, direct, and risk-taking. Together, he and Stephen authored the board document — a concise, analytically rigorous case for the acquisition built around specific assumptions, projections, and requirements. The firm's global CEO called it an outstanding piece of business writing. The board approved the deal. Over the next four months, Stephen built out the full narrative architecture — multiple iterations of the acquisition story cascaded across internal audience groups and calibrated for each stage of the deal. Every constituency had a version of the narrative designed for their specific concerns and context. Every stage had its communications ready before it arrived.
03 OUTCOME
The bankruptcy court awarded the assets to a competitor whose bid exceeded the firm's. For the next year, Stephen led the communications supporting additional acquisitions and integrations at the firm, each one building on the architecture developed here.