Recruitment
The human effect of M & A
Miranda Martin, MD tfconnect, explores some of the conversations that happen and opportunities that can arise when cultures collide post acquisition
here has been a lot of
T talk about M & A across the global exhibitions industry- deals, multiples, platforms, private equity, consolidation and international expansion.
But from where I sit in executive search, I’ m increasingly interested in what happens after the deal is announced.
Because an acquisition isn’ t simply a transaction between two businesses. It is a people event.
New owners arrive. Structures change, reporting lines move, expectations shift and cultures collide. And suddenly, people who have spent years building businesses can find themselves operating in an environment that looks very different from the one they joined.
There are often two very different conversations happening at the same time.
The leadership team may be focused on growth, value creation, integration and the next phase of the business. Meanwhile, employees are asking much more personal questions: What does this mean for my role? Who will I report to? Will the culture change? Is there a future for me here? And perhaps most importantly – what does success look like now?
That gap can become a significant business risk.
The exhibitions industry is particularly exposed because it is fundamentally a people business. Relationships, market knowledge, customer trust, creativity and institutional memory are often concentrated in individuals. When those people leave, the impact can go far beyond an empty position on an organisational chart.
You can lose customer relationships, exhibitor confidence, market intelligence, institutional knowledge and leadership continuity.
And the irony is that some of the people most critical to protecting the value of an acquisition may be the ones who feel least involved in the process.
That doesn ' t mean M & A is bad for talent. Quite the opposite.
I’ ve seen transactions create extraordinary opportunities for people. Investment can provide the capital to launch new products, enter new markets, build teams and professionalise businesses. An acquisition can create career paths that simply wouldn ' t have existed in the previous structure. And when founders step back, it can finally create space for the next generation of leaders to step forward.
But those opportunities don’ t happen automatically. They require people to be prepared. I’ m seeing more clearly the growing importance of leadership teams that can operate through transition – not just leaders who are brilliant at running the business as it is today.
Future leaders need exposure to ownership-level thinking. They need to understand what investors look for, how businesses are prepared for sale, what changes after an acquisition and how leadership dynamics evolve
Above: Miranda Martin
“ An acquisition can create career paths that simply wouldn’ t have existed in the previous structure”
when the founder is no longer making every decision.
They also need to understand the human reality.
What does it actually feel like to sell a business you’ ve spent 20 years building?
What happens to a leadership team when the founder steps away?
How does the relationship with a private equity investor really work?
What happens to culture when a business becomes part of a larger group?
And how do you lead a team when you don’ t have all the answers yourself?
These are conversations we don’ t always have openly in our industry. Often, the most valuable lessons sit behind closed doors, shared privately between founders, investors and advisers.
We need to bring more of those conversations into the open. Because deals may change ownership. People determine what happens next. EW www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 5 2026 51