Breakthrough M&A Study Completed by Best Practices, LLC; New Suite of Services to Provide Executives with Increased Chances of M&A Success Announced.

Business Editors

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 21, 1999

Following the success of its breakthrough study on post merger and acquisition (M&A) integration excellence, Best Practices, LLC announced today it would offer a new suite of services designed to provide executives in charge of corporate combinations with insight to improve a company's chances for creating value and making M&A work in the upcoming year.

The pace of new mergers and acquisitions shows no sign of slowing. At the close of the third quarter of 1999, mergers and acquisitions in corporate America exceeded a total valuation of $2.2 trillion. This figure is a 20% increase over last year's totals, and an astounding 40% increase over 1997 totals. Yet while every single industry has been affected by this trend, the success rates of these combinations have been less staggering. In one recent study, over 50% of the 700 largest M&A deals from 1996 to 1998 actually destroyed shareholder value while 30% offered no significant enhancement. Why do mergers seem to consistently fail? According to the same study, eight in ten deals failed to enhance shareholder value because of poor planning, poor execution, or both. The most successful M&A companies, in fact, understand that having a clear vision of how the deal fits, formulating a plan that follows through and builds trust on that vision, and then developing a quick and well-led process of execution are the keys to M&A success.

Last July, Best Practices, LLC undertook a syndicated benchmarking project to identify the best practices and lessons learned in M&A integration planning and execution from an elite group of companies that are exemplary in these critical areas. Conducted on behalf of 11 corporations from seven economic sectors, the study identifies effective and innovative practices top companies use to create superior growth and value for stakeholders through integration excellence. Drawn from over 50 high-performing companies, the study clearly delineates practices that ensure success in five key integration areas: business development, integration planning, sales and marketing, technology, and culture/human resources. The study also presents insights about integration team structures and how those teams are used to deliver on new growth opportunities.

"Many sources of M&A integration exist, but very few have identified the specific practices that distinguish many of the world's top integrators," said Keith Symmers, Vice-President of Best Practices, LLC and M&A project leader. "This study delivers both qualitative and quantitative insights that will be invaluable to senior executives, M&A heads, integration leaders and team members. This integrated body of knowledge - drawn from throughout the benchmark class which spans more than 20 industries - is far greater than what any single company has implemented. It provides a navigational compass that can guide your company's efforts to create a world-class M&A integration system." Through survey responses and comprehensive interviews conducted with over 50 top-level executives at companies such as Intel, Lucent, and GTE the company's analysts identified well over 200 integration practices.

The remarkable success of the study is now the cornerstone of Best Practices, LLC's new suite of services designed to provide executives undergoing corporate combinations with the decision support they need to create a world-class integration system. One of the new services, the M&A Integration Advantage, will provide executives with a quick assessment of its company's current integration practices and procedures relative to those from successful M&A companies such as Cisco and GE Capital. The M&A Integration Excellence Forum borrows the concept from other successful Best Practices, LLC's Excellence Forums of providing executives with customized on-going research throughout an annual membership. "Companies that participated in our initial M&A study saw the need to have a resource that would provide them with up-to-date research to keep them abreast of how to continually improve the integration process," said Symmers. "In today's fast-paced business environment where things are in constant flux, they have recognized perhaps the only true source of competitive advantage: continuous learning." Both services include a copy of the Best Practices study, Merger & Acquisition Integration Excellence. The study itself will not be publicly available until the first quarter of 2000.

For more information about the M&A Integration Advantage, the M&A Excellence Forum, and other Best Practices, LLC products and services, please call [phone] or visit http://www.best-in-class.com . Act now before the New Year to receive a discount on all M&A products and services. To obtain a sample of the executive summary of the forthcoming Merger & Acquisition Integration Excellence report, contact Brett Goldberg at ex.241 or Ron Puno at ex.238.

ABOUT BEST PRACTICES, LLC

Located in Chapel Hill, NC, Best Practices provides clients with access and intelligence for achieving world-class excellence. The firm's work is based on the simple yet profound principle that organizations can attain superior economic performance by studying and implementing the best business practices, operating tactics, and winning strategies of excellent companies. Serving diverse sectors worldwide, Best Practices' industry specializations include pharmaceuticals, financial services, telecommunications & media, and utilities. For more information about Best Practices, LLC, call [phone] or visit the website at http://www.best-in-class.com.