For private equity, family offices and banks Procurement synergies from Day One.
Between signing and closing, the competition authorities review the deal. We use this time for the data room, benchmarks and the negotiation roadmap, so that negotiations start as soon as the deal is completed.
- No result, no fee
- Non-disclosure agreement before any data is handed over
- Every deal only with your approval
Do you look after a bank's corporate clients? What we do for your borrowers
From signing to the first negotiation
Signing
We start with the documents from the data room.
Merger control
Germany: one month; in main examination proceedings usually up to five months, extendable.1 EU: 25 or 90 working days.3
We prepare: contract data extraction, benchmarks, negotiation roadmap, letters to the suppliers.
Closing, Day One
The roadmap is ready. Negotiations start now.
Negotiation
Align terms, pool volumes, every result as an addendum to the contract.
The wait until closing is predictable. Make use of it.
The Bundeskartellamt (German Federal Cartel Office) clears most mergers in the first phase. At closing, the negotiation roadmap should be finished, not just begun.
- Preliminary examination by the Bundeskartellamt, from complete notification1
- 1 month
- in main examination proceedings, counted from notification, extendable1
- 5 months
- working days for the European Commission in Phase 1 and Phase 2, Phase 2 extendable3
- 25 / 90
- proposed mergers went into main examination proceedings at the Bundeskartellamt in 2024, out of around 900 reviewed2
- 10 of 900
Prepare, yes; negotiate jointly only after closing. Until clearance, the standstill obligation applies (§ 41 GWB, German Competition Act; for the EU, Article 7 of the EU Merger Regulation).3,4 What is permitted beforehand and which data only a clean team may see is for your competition law advisers to decide.
A large share of the synergies lies in procurement. Those who start early realise them sooner.
What consultancies report, and what the calculation looks like on a small scale.
- of their combined external spend is what merged companies typically save in the 18 months after closing6
- 2–5%
- BCG, 2019
- of the savings can be reported earlier if the first year starts three months sooner7
- around 25%
- McKinsey, 2018
Consultancies' figures from their own projects, not independent statistics.
Two companies, one set of terms: routine cleaning, price per m² per month
Before
After closing
- B gets A's price: €0.35 less per m², 25,000 m², twelve months
- €105,000
- 3% volume discount on the pooled volume: 65,000 m² at €2.85, twelve months
- €66,690
- Savings per year
- €171,690
- Our fee, one third of the first year's savings
- €57,230
- Additional enterprise value from the second year, at a multiple of 8
- €1.37m
At closing, everything is ready, independently of the existing procurement team.
From the data room.
Contracts, spend data and invoices are enough. No access to systems, no project in the target company's procurement team.
Ready at closing.
Suppliers by volume and deadlines, benchmarks, targets per supplier, letters to the suppliers.
Independent of procurement.
The existing procurement team does not need to prepare anything. The person who negotiates with the large suppliers for us headed indirect procurement at GALERIA during the years when Karstadt and Kaufhof were being merged.
For your portfolio: one framework agreement.
Uniform terms for all portfolio companies, even without a transaction. We start with one company and transfer the approach to the next ones. We agree the commercial terms individually.
For banks: better earnings and more liquidity for the borrower.
For corporate relationship managers and lenders, for existing loans as well as acquisition finance.
Earnings and debt service.
Better terms across all costs, direct and indirect, strengthen your client's earnings, liquidity and debt service capacity.
No budget needed.
Your client pays nothing upfront. Our fee comes only from proven savings.
You remain neutral.
You make the introduction; we work on behalf of the company. We share results with you only if your client agrees.
Things getting tight? How we work with restructuring advisers and insolvency administrators.
Borrower liquidity: payment terms extended by ten days
+€2.74m
- Purchasing volume per year
- €100,000,000
- Payment terms in days
- 30 to 40
- Additional liquidity
- €2.74m
- Interest benefit per year at a 4% cost of capital
- €109,589
What investors and banks ask us first.
What happens before closing?
We prepare: extracting data from the documents in the data room, gathering benchmarks, writing the negotiation roadmap. Joint negotiations for both companies start only after completion. What is permitted beforehand in each case, and which data only a clean team may see, is for your competition law advisers to decide.
Do we need the target company's procurement team?
Not for the preparation. We work independently of the existing procurement team and involve it as soon as you want. A buyer from the company sits at the table in the talks with the large suppliers.
Is there a framework agreement for the portfolio?
Yes. Uniform terms for all portfolio companies: we start with one company and transfer the approach to the next ones. We agree the terms of the framework agreement individually.
What does it cost a portfolio company?
Nothing upfront. One third of the proven savings in the first twelve months, invoiced on a verifiable basis agreed in advance, usually the prior-year volume. From month 13, the savings belong entirely to the company.
How do you work with banks?
You introduce us to your corporate client. We work on behalf of the company, with no upfront costs. We share results with you only if your client agrees.
What you get from us in writing.
- Non-disclosure agreement before any data is handed over
- Negotiation mandate with roadmap, fee only from the savings
- Every deal only after your written approval
- Every result as an addendum to the contract, confirmed immediately by email
- Invoicing on a verifiable basis agreed in advance
- Data used only for your mandate, deleted on completion
Access for the mandate team only. More on this: Security and data protection
Sources (7)
- Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (German Competition Act), § 40 (merger control procedure), accessed 28 October 2026.
- Bundeskartellamt: Jahresrückblick 2024 (review of the year 2024), press release of 19 December 2024, accessed 28 October 2026.
- European Commission: Merger procedures (how EU merger control works), accessed 28 October 2026.
- Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (German Competition Act), § 41 (standstill obligation), accessed 28 October 2026.
- McKinsey: Procurement-driven synergies in mergers: Landmine or goldmine?, 31 August 2017, accessed 28 October 2026.
- BCG: Raising the Procurement Game in Postmerger Integration, 2019, accessed 28 October 2026.
- McKinsey: Get more procurement value from M&A, even before closing, 16 July 2018, accessed 28 October 2026.
Synergies from the first day after closing.
Start with a free pilot review of around 20 contracts from a portfolio company or corporate client, under a non-disclosure agreement.
Prefer to talk directly?
Sebastian Dahm
Co-CEO, Product, Sales and Market Data
Rinascai GmbH, Zurich. Reply within one business day.