M&A Manager

You will play a leading role in furthering our strategic business development programme through merger, acquisition, joint venture and divestment activities using our transaction processes, from developing a high quality pest and hygiene/wellbeing pipeline, appraising and valuing acquisition opportunities, building internal consensus and getting formal approvals, negotiating and deal structuring, organising DD and sign-off process, through to completion and post-completion follow-up.

You will be primarily responsible for France and other French speaking regions (French speaking Belgium, French Caribbean, some African countries etc.) and have the responsibility to develop pipeline and execute transactions in France and support transactions in other European regions as required. You will work closely with MDs and business unit managers for these countries/regions, and interact with internal specialists (Finance, Legal, Tax, HR, Operations etc.). You will implement and ensure internal governance and compliance processes. 

This role will report to the Executive M&A Director (based in the Group HQ in Crawley, UK), and will be a key member of a small but dynamic team with exposure to the PLC Investment Committee.

Key Responsibilities: 

• Pipeline building and maintaining relationships with targets.

  • Calling up/meeting new potential targets where RI has no prior contact

  • Maintaining relationship with top 50 targets by calling/meeting them 1-2 times a year. 

• Work in conjunction with M&A ED in managing deals:

  • Negotiate LOIs – needs demonstrable prior experience of “leading” LOI negotiations

  • Negotiate SPAs – demonstrable prior experience of understanding of key SPA clauses and negotiating positions

  • Manage due diligence with a cross functional team of internal experts and external advisors (finance, tax, legal) – prior experience essential.

• Build robust financial valuation models and Investment Committee papers reflecting the detailed business case in order to assess the value creation potential of acquisition, venture or divestment proposals:

  • With input from country MD/FD 

  • Aligned with expectations of EU MD/FD, M&A ED and Investment Committee.

• As required, prepare general market entry analysis for new segments, industry and competitor analysis and various internal and external presentations.

• Awareness of post deal integration activities and ensuring these are identified, planned for and actioned by the acquiring business.

• Follow-up on post completion undertakings such as Earn Out related payments and breach of warranty. 

• Perform thorough post-acquisition reviews evaluating the success of transactions and take learning forward.

Rentokil Initial, a FTSE 50 company and one of the largest business services companies in the world, is looking for an experienced and all round M&A professional to join its European M&A team based out of France.

The ideal candidate must have gained hands-on deal experience preferably in a corporate environment (strong advisory candidates will also be considered) and should demonstrate strong analytical, financial, negotiation, project management and interpersonal skills. 

The role is part of RI’s European M&A team and will be based in the RI’s French head office in Boulogne, Paris reporting to Group Executive M&A Director and supporting the MD of France. While there is flexibility for this person to work from home (to be discussed), it would be ideal if this person is able to be in the Boulogne office 3-4 times a week.

Mandatory Skills

• A minimum 5 years of hands-on M&A experience, including prior experience in a corporate environment (preferred). Candidates with a background in a client facing role in a large accountancy firm or investment banking will be considered.

• Fluency in English and French; other languages will be a plus

• Solid business modelling skills mandatory

• Experience of managing cross functional due diligence teams

• Experience of leading negotiation of LOIs/Term sheets and Purchase Agreements will be valuable

• Ability to work collaboratively with country and regional leadership teams

Other Skills needed for the role

• Ability to deliver results often working in and managing cross functional, cross cultural teams spread across various countries where face to face meetings are rare.

• Intellectual capacity to manage complex valuation models independently. 

• Ability to work on 3-5 projects simultaneously without slowing down any of them.

• An open, direct, and respectful communication style with excellent oral and written communication skills. Ability to work in a collaborative manner with colleagues, challenging them in the right areas while getting things done.

• Experience of communicating with MD/FD level individuals.

• Proven ability to think strategically about acquisition objectives, map the strategy into due diligence evaluations.

• Capacity to rapidly identify issues pertaining to acquisitions, communicate those issues upwards immediately and find resolution.

• Exceptional attention to detail. 

• Relevant business or finance degree from a leading academic institution and/or professional qualification (e.g. ACA, CFA etc). 

• Flexibility to travel regularly (~20% of time).

Personal attributes

• Strong interpersonal skills

• Able to facilitate and leverage internal resources

• Able to challenge key senior stakeholders on deal critical issues

• Excellent Team player