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Pascal Hernalsteen
Sections
Engagement Mode II

PMI
30 · 60 · 90

  • Day-1 readiness and hidden-risk assessment
  • Post-merger integration across Europe and USA
  • Stabilise first, integrate second
  • Regulator, client and people communication from day one
Day 1–30 · Diagnose→Day 31–60 · Integrate→Day 61–90 · Stabilise→
Phase 01
30
DAYS

Diagnose.

The deal team is rarely the integration team. The first 30 days recover what was lost at signing, and surface what diligence never saw.

On-the-ground assessment

  • Meet the target’s teams in person, not remotely
  • Surface what pre-sign diligence missed: home-market assumptions that fail abroad
  • Map decision-makers, flight risks and the silent killers spreading fear or rumours
  • Identify frustrations on both acquirer and target side before they harden
  • Assess retained leadership against the future operating model; map sacred cows and founder dynamics

Hidden liabilities review

  • Doubtful receivables and unbilled work
  • Unpaid critical vendors, IT first
  • Tax and social-security arrears
  • Anything that makes the base too unstable to build on

Prioritisation & planning

  • Risk register with remediation actions
  • Eisenhower matrix: urgent-and-important first
  • Important-but-not-urgent scheduled into the long-term plan and tracked
  • The not-by-Day-90 list: scope explicitly deferred, agreed with the sponsor

Communication plan

  • Internal: leadership-to-teams transparency, trust both ways
  • Clients: continuity messaging, sequenced outreach
  • Regulator: change-of-control filings, CSSF notifications, conducting-officer alignment
  • Sponsor and board: reporting cadence agreed, the hard conversation on what is achievable by when

Continuity safeguards

  • Critical-vendor and IT continuity secured
  • Key-person retention packages signed before any announcement
Deliverable
Integration risk register + Eisenhower-prioritised remediation plan + communication plan live: teams, clients, regulator, board. Including the not-by-Day-90 list.
PASCAL HERNALSTEEN · OPERATING PARTNERPMI · DAY 1–30
Phase 02
60
DAYS

Integrate.

Integration starts only once the base is stable.

Culture & people

  • Lock retention packages
  • Confirm and announce permanent leadership
  • Run listening tours: 1:1s
  • Land a cultural integration plan: company culture and country culture
  • Name culture champions in each business line

Clients

  • Deploy a retention scorecard per client
  • Baseline Net Promoter Score and service quality
  • Cross-sell map

Operations & IT

  • Standardise processes to the Target Operating Model
  • Execute system migration with parallel-run
  • Design the KPI dashboard
  • Protect delivery: freeze non-critical change during NAV cycles and audit windows

Regulatory

  • Track change-of-control application to approval
  • Integrate risk and compliance under one framework
  • Align conducting-officer responsibilities and update notifications

Synergies

  • Validate revenue and cost synergy map against post-closing reality
  • Start synergy tracking
Deliverable
Integration progress report: workstream status, regulatory milestones, client retention scorecard, synergy tracker.
PASCAL HERNALSTEEN · OPERATING PARTNERPMI · DAY 31–60
Phase 03
90
DAYS

Stabilise.

Lessons are captured, the playbook is updated, and capacity is re-tested for the next target.

Post-integration review

  • Structured lessons-learned session
  • Update the PMI playbook based on experience
  • Staff engagement check
  • Client satisfaction: measure service-quality impact

Governance

  • Briefing to ExCo and shareholder
  • Synergies realised vs. plan

Ready for the next

  • Operational capacity assessment
  • Update hiring plan based on capacity gaps
  • Assess readiness and next targets
Deliverable
Post-integration report: synergies realised, updated PMI playbook, pipeline readiness.
PASCAL HERNALSTEEN · OPERATING PARTNERPMI · DAY 61–90
Field lessons

Built into this playbook.

The deal team is not the integration team

  • Strategic knowledge evaporates at signing unless deliberately transferred.

Home-market assumptions break abroad

  • Transatlantic diligence done by people who know the business but not the geography produces wrong hypotheses.

Remote diligence misses people risk

  • Rumours, fears and silent killers only surface face-to-face.

You cannot build on an unstable base

  • Hidden liabilities reset the integration priorities: stabilise before you integrate.
PASCAL HERNALSTEEN · OPERATING PARTNERPMI · FIELD LESSONS