CPO Path #12

A deal can look attractive in a board paper and still carry supplier conditions that weaken the business after signing. In acquisitions, integrations, and turnarounds, procurement’s value is not limited to later synergy capture. It starts earlier: testing whether supplier contracts, cost assumptions, supply continuity, and working-capital effects support the deal story.

M&A activity is returning, but the quality of execution still matters more than the announcement. Reuters reported that global M&A activity rose 10% in the first nine months of 2025 to $1.938 trillion, based on a BCG study. ([Reuters], 2025)

That matters for procurement leaders because more deals create more integration work. But procurement is often invited after the deal logic has already been set by strategy, finance, legal, and corporate development.

By then, some important questions may be late: Which supplier contracts can be transferred? Which price agreements depend on volume thresholds? Which key suppliers serve both companies? Which suppliers are distressed? Which terms damage working capital? Which consolidation synergies are real, and which ones disappear once qualification, tooling, logistics, or customer approval is considered?

In many deals, procurement is treated as a post-close execution function. The deal team identifies a synergy number. Procurement is then asked to deliver it.

That sequence creates a familiar problem. A spreadsheet may say that two supplier bases can be consolidated. The actual supplier file may say something else.

One supplier may have exclusivity rights. Another may require requalification. A key component may be tied to customer approvals. A rebate may disappear if volume moves. A contract may have change-of-control clauses. A supplier may already be financially unstable. A tooling asset may be owned by the supplier, not by the company. None of this is abstract procurement detail. It affects deal value.

Deloitte’s M&A Trends work found that both corporate and private equity respondents ranked a coherent and well-supported M&A strategy as the most important factor behind deal success, while private equity respondents also ranked pre-close planning among their top three deal factors. ([Deloitte], 2024)

That is where procurement should enter.

The useful role is not to slow the deal. It is to separate visible savings from executable savings.

There are three questions a CPO can bring before the deal becomes an operating problem.

First: What supplier risks are we buying?
This includes critical suppliers, sole-source dependencies, weak contracts, price-index exposure, country risk, capacity constraints, payment discipline, quality history, and supplier financial health.

Second: Which synergies can actually be captured?
A synergy is only real when it survives contract review, supplier negotiation, qualification constraints, logistics cost, customer requirements, inventory effects, and implementation timing.

Third: What must happen in the first 100 days?
The first 100 days should not become a vague integration period. For procurement, it should include supplier communication, spend visibility, contract mapping, critical-risk review, quick-win negotiation, payment-term discipline, and a clear view of what must not be disrupted.

Turnarounds make the same logic sharper. In a turnaround, procurement is often asked to reduce cash outflow while keeping suppliers committed. That creates a direct tension. Extending payment terms may protect liquidity, but it can also damage supplier trust if the business already looks risky. Cutting suppliers may reduce cost, but it can remove recovery capacity if the remaining source fails.

McKinsey’s procurement research describes the function as moving beyond cost control into resilience, supplier collaboration, and broader value creation. ([McKinsey & Company], 2025) In M&A and turnarounds, that wider role becomes practical. Procurement is not only buying better. It is helping management understand whether the supply base can support the transaction or recovery plan.

The mature frame is simple: procurement should not arrive after value has been promised. It should help test whether the promised value can be executed.

They ask for a place in due diligence with a narrow, useful mandate: supplier risk, contract transferability, spend overlap, synergy realism, and working-capital exposure.

They do not present a long procurement assessment. They prepare a deal-side risk screen: top twenty suppliers, top ten contracts, top five supply continuity risks, top five synergy assumptions, and the first 100-day actions.

They separate three types of synergy: immediately executable, conditionally executable, and unlikely to be executable. That prevents the deal team from treating every spreadsheet opportunity as equal.

They work early with Finance and Legal. Finance validates the economic effect. Legal checks contract constraints. Operations checks whether supplier changes can happen without damaging delivery.

They protect the first 100 days from false urgency. Some suppliers should be renegotiated quickly. Others should be stabilised first. The CPO’s job is to know the difference.

Procurement earns deal relevance when it shows which synergies can survive contact with suppliers, contracts, cash, and execution.

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Deloitte. (2024). M&A Trends Report: Resetting for a Firmer Market. Retrieved from https://deloitte.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/m-a-trends-report-resetting-for-a-firmer-market-8b4a3908

McKinsey & Company. (2025, February 25). Procurement 2025: Reimagining the Function for Success. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/procurement-2025-reimagining-the-function-for-success

Reuters. (2025, October 28). Global M&A activity up 10% in first nine months of 2025, study shows. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/business/global-ma-activity-up-10-first-nine-months-2025-study-shows-2025-10-28/

Thank you for reading,

Pascal Hecker | Editor-In-Chief, CPO Path.