Leadership in times of crises

Accelerating the sustainability transformation journey with M&A

Sustainability has shifted from a “nice to have” and “regulatory must have” to a driver for business performance. What are the current trends and how might businesses think about sustainability in five years’ time? In this “Inside Corporates Podcast episode” we welcome Roberto Micelli, Partner at Deloitte Switzerland. Roberto focuses on helping clients achieve deal value expectations through M&A and transformation, with a strong emphasis on sustainability. He will share his views if companies are doing enough and the right things to drive sustainability and how M&A can act as a gamechanger on this transformation journey.

M&A | Sustainability | Transformation | ClimateChange | ESG | Strategy

Guest: Roberto Micelli, Partner Financial Advisory, Deloitte Switzerland Host: Karin Hodson, Partner Financial Advisory, Deloitte Switzerland

M&A in an inflationary environment

Speaker: Professor Dr. Klaus Wellershoff

Moderator:  Indrek Luuk

Topics discussed:

• How do structural changes impact inflation and what can we expect going forward?
• What are the elements that need to go right to see a positive real interest rate?
• Why does the equity market not correctly price macroeconomic risks and opportunities?

Inflation and changes in the macroeconomic environment continue to impact the landscape of M&A deals. What can we expect in 2023 and what are the key trends ahead? In this episode we have invited Prof. Dr. Klaus Wellershoff to discuss inflation, where its heading and why we need to fight it. He also talks about interest rate expectations and their practical implications on M&A.

 “If you want to quench inflation out of the system, you need to have positive real interest rates and not only just a little, but real 100 basis points, 200 basis points of positive real interest rates. Otherwise, monetary policy is just not effective.”

M&A | Inflation | Interest rates | Macroeconomics | Recession | Economist

Insights into the money transfer business – with Arun Tharmarajah, Head of European Banking at Wise

Speaker: Arun Tharmarajah, Head of European Banking at Wise
Host: Matt Lock

Topics discussed:

• What were the biggest barriers Wise faced when the company was founded?
• What type of strategic partnerships is Wise entering and what are potential issues?
• Where are the biggest disruptions and changes expected over the next 5-10 years?

The young FinTech Wise, also formerly known as TransferWise was founded in 2011 and has grown to a serious market player with a global footprint. The mission of Wise is to enable cross-border money transfers and avoid expensive and nontransparent processes. In this podcast we get insights into the mission of Wise, it’s future plans and its collaborations with European banks.

"We want to make the world truly borderless. We want spending money to be as easy as sending an email all over the world."

Strategic partnerships - with Vanessa Gentile, Alliance & Channel Lead at Salesforce Switzerland

Speaker: Vanessa Gentile, Alliance & Channel Lead at Salesforce Switzerland

Moderator: Matt Lock

Topics discussed:

• What makes Salesforce so successful?
• What are the top 3 considerations when entering strategic partnerships or looking for alliances?
• Salesforce has launched a few products to help companies navigate the pandemic. But what are these?

Salesforce just marked the 22nd anniversary in March and since the founding in 1999 has developed into one of the most successful CRMs worldwide. In this podcast we want to understand what made Salesforce so successful, but also what criteria is important to the firm when entering into strategic partnerships or alliances. Additionally, on a personal note our speaker Vanessa reveals a very helpful and innovative way of keeping kids busy with only a dice while working from home.

Quote:

We don't see each other anymore and trust is getting more and more important to empower relationships in general. If they know you care about them, you trust them, then you have achieved a strong relationship with your partners, with your community, and also with your customers and your internal stakeholders.

#M&A #StrategicPartnerships #StrategicAlliances #Trust #BringWomenBacktoWork #BWBTW #WorkingfromHome

Value of strategic partnerships – with Daniel Schmucki, CFO at SIX Group

Speaker: Daniel Schmucki, CFO at SIX Group
Host: Matt Lock

Topics discussed:

• Given that trust is important in order to enter into a strategic partnership, but how much harder is it to build trusted partnerships in our virtual world?
• “You should always do your homework before you start a partnership”. What are the activities that are most important here?
• What are the top 3 tips that need to be considered when entering into a strategic partnership?

We have all been experiencing the impact of lockdowns, and we see that there is an emerging interest in exploring new ways of collaborating. In this podcast we cover the topic of strategic partnerships, what to consider when entering into strategic partnerships and how SIX in Switzerland is dealing with the topic. SIX operates the infrastructure for the financial centers in Switzerland and Spain and ensures the flow of information and money between financial market players. One of the successful products of SIX is TWINT, which is covered in this podcast as well.

“Partnerships can be considered as successful when they achieve at least one of the following goals. First, access to new customers and markets. Secondly, the improvement of capabilities and or resources. And third, the reduction of financial and operational risk.”

#M&A #StrategicPartnerships #SIX #TWINT #BusinessStrategy