Energy, 53% of M&A value in the hands of 20 companies

Looking to the future from Bain, they also expect growth in infrastructure investments in areas such as renewable energy, Btm and flexibility solutions, water services, waste management, biomethane and other new infrastructures, with significant opportunities for value creation, while interesting processes are being set up in the chemical sector in highly specialised companies.

The most successful companies in M&A do not simply seize opportunities, but help to generate them by starting with a clear strategy and using acquisitions as a lever for progressive transformation, Bain notes. They actually define the 'rules of the game' of the industry, anticipating competitive dynamics and activating potentially disruptive M&A scenarios, for instance through vertical integrations or the creation of integrated players.

Not only that. They operate proactively, maintaining an up-to-date short list of priority targets, developing 'unusual' analyses and investment theses, and directly initiating dialogue with counterparties, including portfolio companies of private equity funds. Last but not least, the increasing use of artificial intelligence enhances the breadth and quality of assessments, for instance by more accurately modelling cost and business synergies.

In order to maximise value, the most successful operators adopt an approach structured in three equally important phases - stabilise, integrate and transform - whereas, traditionally, the focus is on the first two, postponing or completely underestimating the overall transformation process that must be triggered by the acquisition, Bain write.

"It is precisely the transformation phase that generates at least 50 per cent of the overall synergies of an acquisition,' Cadei continues. 'Although it is essential to stabilise in order to avoid operational disruptions and hasty integrations, what is often missing is the exploitation of the transversal opportunities that enable a true transformation. The best operators, on the other hand, place the focus on transformation within the first year of the transaction'.

The main opportunities for transformation are concentrated in three key areas: commercial, sourcing and planning future operations. On the commercial front, greater scale enables the optimisation of product flows between markets with different price levels and the development of completely new integrated offerings. In sourcing, value arises not only from price reductions, but above all from 'buying better': rethinking what to buy and how to buy it can generate up to 60 per cent of overall savings. Finally, leaders do not stop at the single deal, but plan from the outset the acquisitions that will become possible as a result of the former.

"M&A in the industry is no longer just a lever for growth or efficiency," Cadei concludes, "It is a strategic tool for rethinking the business model and preparing the organisation to face the challenges of the future. Today, value is being concentrated on a few players, but the transformation of the industry is far from complete: it will be the companies capable of using acquisitions as an accelerator of change - and not as a mere sum of assets - that will define the new balance of the industry in the coming years".