Topic 19

Hi, Thank you all for your help before. The new RAP guidance is out and you must now choose a merger or acquisition which is not more than three submission periods ago, so that for period 33, the merger must have taken place after November 2013. I now need to restart my project, as i had written about a merger from 2009! So a couple quick questions: - As the merger is so recent, can I write about the likely consequences? i.e. the management team of the combined company is predominantly from the acquiring company, therefore the likely consequences are for the acquiring company's culture to prevail? - For the financial consequence, can I write about the transfer of value resulting from too high a purchase price? Or is this too loose a financial consequence? Thanks again for your help!

@Sam the new rules actually relate to YEARS not submission periods and state: "For all topics other than 8 and 15, please also note the requirement to base your project on recent organisational activity or processes rather than historical events. (For this purpose ‘historical’ refers to activity that took place more than the three full calendar years preceding the start of the current submission period.) For example if you were proposing to submit a project in May 2017 for topic 19 the merger or acquisition would have to have taken place AFTER 1 JANUARY 2014" Obviously in your case your merger is from a much older period. If you had already started your report and done a lot of work I think there is a case for you to write to OBU and show them that you had already been working on your report and now this means that you have been unexpectedly disadvantaged by an unexpected change in the rules. (I understand one of the reasons for insisting on recent work is that there have been attempts by some students to use passed work from years back and 'recycle' it. This new rule limits the potential for this)

@trephena I did email OB and explain the situation a couple of times, and they have confirmed that they will not make an exception for me. At least I spotted this change now so at least I still have time to make the Period 33 submission dates! You are very knowledgeable on this topic, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on my questions above? The difficulty is that with such recent acquisitions, I feel that there hasn't been much chance for the merger/acquisition to have had a significant effect on culture.

@sam - I tend to agree with you that the fallout and effects of a merger/acquisition tend to take longer than 3 years before they are reported on/ picked up by outsiders external to the organisation. You mention 'culture' and I imagine you mean organisational culture. However culture can also be an issue if the two organisations are cross-border / international e.g. the Kraft takeover of Cadbury had a serious impact on the not just the workforce but also shocked the UK public generally in how little consideration was given to employees and how promises made were so quickly broken. I suggest that if you do some research on corporate mergers and acquisitions on Google Scholar you may turn up some articles that may give you some ideas to explore further. With Google Scholar you will find that some of the articles are only available by subscription, however those with a link showing on the right are usually able to be downlo0aded free of charge. By using a few key words (e.g. 'company merger issues') you should be able uncover some interesting papers and articles to help you develop your report and therefore help strengthen your analysis.

Hi, I plan to do my OBU for May2017 and I've chosen topic 19. My mentor advised me to pick out companies with no subsidiaries before the acquisition took place as its easier to analyse the financial statements and that the acquisition should have taken place after 2012. In all honesty, I'm struggling to find an M&A like that. I need advice on which companies I could use. Thanks =P

Hi, i have also chosen topic 19, I want to confirm that the merger and acquisition can be failure too..so opting any company which got their M & A not successful is it ok! kindly reply me ASAP

Yes not a problem. Follow the usual outline of setting out what was expected and then analysing and evaluating the consequences. The only issue to check is whether your timeline accords with OBU rules. If you have read through this thread you will have seen that OBU was insisting on data no more that 3 years old. This becomes impractical with this topic as the full fallout sometimes isn't apparent for about 5 years. I think protests were raised about this and OBU has dropped the idea but just check before you invest your time.

Hi, I am ACCA affiliate having completed all 14 examinations and now I have chosen to do topic 19 for my RAP. I have to say that i have found quite useful information on this forum but i would like some further help if i am to pursue this topic further. I am aware that a natural way to tackle this topic would be to by analysing pre and post acq position of the acquirer, however, i have chosen an acquisition that was finalised in December last year therefore i am only left with 10-11 months post acq period. Can i set the objectives such that this post acq period is not a problem?

any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks Ashir

@ashir - the key question you need to ask yourself is 'Is there sufficient material for me to do a proper analysis?' As I point out in my article on evaluation and analysis on our homepage www.opentuition.com/obu you have to do more than just report findings (as this would really only be doing a research project and you are tasked with doing a research and ANALYSIS project). Normally several years figures allow for some analysis of the post acquisition position. So if you don't have these you will have to establish what are you going to do some original analysis on?

Hi Trephena, Thank you for your reply. My RAP is based on the Acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft, with Microsoft being the focus of the project. I have the availability of Microsoft’s 2017 Annual report and Financial statements for post-acq period. I have been working on developing the framework for the project and after some research this is what I have come up with. Overall framework is as follows: I am going to analyse the key factors/ drivers that led to the acquisition by using PESTLE or ‘forcefield analysis’ as my business models. Further I am going to analyse the key financial implications (short and long term) on Microsoft as a result of this acquisition by using the following methods: 1. Ratio analysis; • LinkedIn’s gross profit margins and asset turnover (for revenue analysis) figures (comparing the pre and post acq figures) and as a result what it means and has meant for Microsoft • Microsoft’s gearing ratio- as debt finance has been used for the acq hence this ratio has gone up. Again what it means for Microsoft • Share price (EPS) variations of both the companies, pre and post acq. Impacts on Investor confidence and later for Microsoft. 2. Microsoft’s WACC calculation. Analysis of pre and post acq. How has the deal benefited M’s financial position and what are the long term consequences. 3. Tax Implications: • Tax savings for Microsoft as a result of using debt finance, as the interest payments are tax deductible- quantifying the value to attain future tax savings • Microsoft can set off L’s Operational losses against future profits- quantifying the value by projecting future revenues and costs. What impact will that have on the tax rates and effective tax rates that Microsoft pays in corporation tax. And as for operational consequences: 1. Business operational synergies- • LinkedIn data has detailed information in relation to education, employment history and who do they know. • analysis of LinkedIn’s growth in the number of users and how Microsoft is having and can have an advantage. 2. Microsoft’s marketing strategy- M plans to use L to target the professionals and executives in the market to prop up office 365 3. Competitiveness- salesforce (also offers CRM) , aligning LinkedIn database with'Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM' to prop up the revenue from Dynamics by targeting the executives 4. Cultural analysis- future potential clashes and reasoning for it. I am not sure what else I could take into account for operational consequences, however, I do want to add to it. I want to do a SWOT analysis of the acquisition deal. I am planning to this by pulling threads from financial results into the analysis along with highlighting the operational consequences. I would highly appreciate if you could take some time out to review and let me know if I am on the track. I have read the Analysis and Evaluation articles and they have been helpful in the preparation so far however, i am not sure if the above would constitute as any original analysis. Thank you. Regards, Ashir

Hi Ashir You have obviously thought about the topic and you have some sound ideas and your suggestions for analysis seem quite reasonable. What you are proposing to analyse would constitute original analysis as you will be doing some of the calculations yourself and considering the various financial impacts yourself (supported where appropriate by referenced articles I trust). You might also be able to do some analysis of the impact on the various stakeholder groups (employees, shareholders, customers) . This would allow you to apply a stakeholder model. You have suggested using Forcefield analysis, PEST and a SWOT so don't worry if you don't have sufficient words for yet another model - I mention it merely because some markers are mad about models! As always I suggest that you use clear graphs to present the findings visually where this is feasible. This then means that you don't need to repeat and waste words in telling the reader what they can already see from the graphs/ charts. Visual graphics help break up the text and make work more interesting if used appropriately (although some Far Eastern students go over the top and include lots of pictures!). So good relevant graphs and charts are a very sensible idea (however for anyone reading who may have crammed lots of photos and pictures in their report - your work will appear tacky and unprofessional - academic work is about factual information and not about producing something like a children's picture book which it will not impress the academic markers).

Hi Trephena, I hope you are well. I have been trying to make a logical structure of the RAP, however this topic is proving to be more difficult than I expected and to top all that my mentor has been of very little help. After careful consideration and a bit of more research I have decided to approach the topic a little differently now and would highly appreciate your input. I understand that the ACCA average contributes towards the class of the degree and my average is such that I will only be able to achieve a 2:2 irrespective of the grade I score in the RAP and given the time constraint I feel I will be lucky if I even score a C and pass. Thus, keeping all of that in mind I am trying to keep it as least complicated as possible. Following is what I plan to do now: I have stated the project objectives followed by the research questions and the approach that I plan to take to answer those questions. Project objectives & Research Questions 1. Objective: To develop an understanding of the drivers that led to the acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft. 1.a. What is Microsoft’s corporate strategy how does LinkedIn fit into Microsoft’s strategic business? This question will be answered by analysing Microsoft’s corporate strategy to understand what it was 3 years ago and how it has evolved over time. Thus, developing an understanding of how LinkedIn fit into the strategy. - **[ I want to use business model, but don’t know which would suit the best, to cover the above approach to answer the question. If you could please help. ]** 1.b. why did LinkedIn agree to the acquisition? This question can be answered by performing a pre-acq SWOT analysis of LinkedIn’s business position, which would provide with reasons as to how MSFT has the capabilities to be able to minimise the threats and overcome weaknesses of LKND and help it build on its strengths and realise the opportunities. 2. Objective: To determine whether the acquisition has strengthened the overall business and strategic position of Microsoft (MSFT) and set it on the path to realise its Corporate strategy. 2.a. How much have LinkedIn’s business operations grown and what contributions have been made to Microsoft as a result? This will be answered by analysing the growth in the business operations of LinkedIn comparing pre and post acquisition position - User growth? Monthly active users? etc - Financial Analysis of revenue, cost and profit per segment on quarterly basis hence identifying trends: segments [Talent solutions, Marketing solutions & Premium subscription (including sales navigator- *this compliments CRM)] - See if there has been growth in these segments, if so how has it been achieved? By minimising threats and maximised opportunity. - projecting future growth in these variables, along with operational synergies that could be generated to improve these variables. 2.b. what are impacts on Microsoft's of this acquisition deal? This question will be answered by evaluating the impact of the deal on msft [(financial and non-financial) comparing with the pre acq positions] and the returns made on investment so far. - financed by debt – gearing and interest cover ratios [ comparison with previous year and industry avg] , Dividend payments ( if more cash is needed to pay interest then less is available for dividends) - Share price of the msft? EPS - CASHFLOWS situation. Lknd and msft - the acquisition has increased MSFT Market capitalisation - Analysis of asset turnover, return on investment (ROI) on investment of ($26bn paid for acq) - sustainable competitive advantage in relation to ‘dynamics CRM and office 365’ – (as the data acquired from LKND is unique) analyse the growth in CRM market share of msft since acq. - Stakeholder situation can be analysed (particularly in the light of the acquisition) by applying Mendlow’s Matrix. The results from 2.a and 2.b can be consolidated to reach a conclusion to satisfy objective 2. Thus also providing recommendations on the basis of the findings as to what course of action can be taken by msft to realise the strategic objective (found in 1.a) behind the acqiuistion of Lknd. I have excluded the WACC, as I could not come up with suitable analysis on the basis of that calculation, other than company’s or target’s valuation, which was making things complicated. I have also excluded the tax implications of LKND operational losses as I am not entirely aware of the US tax laws to be able to calculate the figures. If I can pursue the topic further in order achieve a pass by excluding some of the above information and add something else instead or rearranging/restructuring the information in any way or optimise the use of the business models (as i only passed p3 on the dot- 50%) please do state as I still have to type the whole RAP and have only got 10 days to go. However, I do have most of the info mentioned and have an idea of providing sensible commentary and analysis as well as no commitments till deadline. I can totally understand if asking for a detailed feedback on the above would be too much to ask but you are the only source of validation left at this point and I am sure whatever you contribute can be relied upon. I would very much appreciate your valuable insight towards securing a pass. Please help me out with what you can i will start the typing process from tomorrow hopefully. Thank you for reading the whole mess and for your input in advance. Kind Regards, Ashir

@ashir -well done you for tackling a topic with minimum help. It is a shame that you can only get a 2.2 max but you certainly seem to be packing a punch with your proposals above. If you can do all of that I think you should be fine. A main concern though is the word limit - as I think you will run out of words - so use graphs and charts wherever you can and don't waste words repeating everything the graph already shows (just only mention those figures that are significant) You asked about a model in your first paragraph. You have a few already including 'Synergies' (which you mention later). You could outline a few expected synergies and then assess whether they materialised. I can't really add much. Don't overlook the SLS and Presentation and if in doubt about referencing consult our Ultimate Guide on our homepage. Good luck! :-D

Hi Trephena, Thank you so much for your prompt reply! Your validation has restored my confidence and I feel that I can complete the project on this topic and hopefully finally obtain the OBU BSc degree. However, as I have been typing the RAP I have noticed the stress my overall objectives place on the corporate strategy of the acquirer and then I thought if I could have just done a topic involving an analysis of a strategy of a company so I just went through the topic list again and realised that there is such a topic, topic 14. Hence, I am a bit concerned if I am deviating from the original requirement of the topic 19 by any chance? Another aspect I wanted to gain some insight on, if possible, was the appendices and list of references. They are a part of the same document as the Research Report? If so then do I have to include the excel spreadsheet, with all the formulae intact, at the end of the research report document as an appendix? (which I don’t think I know how to but I ll find out). Also, the slides of the presentation will be copied from power point to SLS word document? Therefore, in total I only have to upload two Word documents?? Thank you once again for the feedback, it has honestly helped me a lot, I am very grateful ? Kind Regards, Ashir

Interesting question as some of the Topic titles and/or some of the circumstances overlap so it is not always clear cut. Hard for me to tell you what to go for but my ideas on the two are as follows: I feel with T14 there needs to be some sort of cost benefit analysis as the main focus of the analysis. Often it relates to a firm investing in a new product or market or a combination of the two. The best one I saw (the student worked for the company and so had access to all the background and data), was about Landrover's decision to invest in an entirely new car (the Evoque) to both update its range and steal customers away from BMW and Audi. The success of this strategic decision even surprised the company! With T19 the objectives are broader in that synergies come into play the new whole expecting to be more than sum of the 2 parts. The benefits extending to access to a different and/or wider market, increased market share, economies of scale, new expertise and competencies and of course profit maximization. The down side might be the fall out on the culture, staff uncertainty because of restructuring etc. Unless you really want to annoy the marker do not load ANYTHING after the Conclusions and Recommendations in your report. For a start it messes up the automatic word count and any appendices in the same file would mean they would have to keep scrolling back and forth (rather than simply just switch between windows). Anything which causes them inconvenience is not going to endear you to them! You load the rest as individual separate files including the Excel file used for graphics and calculations, separate ref list and one for appendices (combined if poss for appendices because again a file for each appendix would both take time for the marker to open and drive them nuts!)

Hello Trephena, Thank you for clearing all that out for me. I will try and focus on the synergistic benefits that were expected, what is generated so far and what can be achieved. One last thing I wanted to ask was that all the information flow is going to be in part 3, right? And that I need to reference the information gathered (facts and numbers) from the online articles, annual reports and any other sources that I have used? Thank you for all your help once again, I have achieved better clarity than I had at any stage throughout the process of RAP. :D Kind regards, Ashir

Part 1 is an intro with objectives and research questions. Part 2 is about how you propose to go about it all and the limitations of the data and issues in that respect. Part 3 is about stating then analysing and evaluating what you found. Then you round off with conclusions which should summarise key findings and relate back to the initial objectives. Every fact, opinion or the work of others needs to be referenced so see the OT Ultimate Guide to Referencing your RAP on our homepage as it particularly the Golden Rules are designed to iron out most problems

Hi, I have chosen topic 19 but I have a few questions/ clarifications and I would really appreciate your help. For premerger analysis I plan to do a swot and financial analysis. can I focus the premerger analysis on the acquired company as I have not been able to get the acquirers financial statementsfor the years before the merger as the company was private before the merger and did not publish its financial statements.Reading through your replies to questions from other students you suggested that the swot should tie in with your financial analysis and ultimately help you meet your research objectives. one of my objectives was to determine why the acquirer acquired the target company but if I cannot perform premerger analysis on the acquiring company how do I meet that objective? In addition to the swot and financial analysis I am considering doing either Johnson and scholes SFA model or Force field analysis. Can you tell me which of the two will be more appropriate. Will using only two business models make a good RAP? With regards to operational consequences apart from reduction of head count and closing of less efficient facilities I'm not sure what else to add and I doubt that will be enough.Will you consider different management styles as a "culture" issue? Thanks for the help

@imaan - my main concern is whether you will have adequate information to be able to do sufficient original analysis. In an ideal scenario you would be looking at the strategic reasons for the acquisition/merger and comparing post-merger/acquisition financials for the acquirer with their pre-acquisition financials (and the post HR, culture and other operational changes supplement this). I don't think the models on their own will be sufficient - it is not a case of using lots of models as it is normally better to use one or two well (rather than 3 or 4 superficially). Unless you can put up a good case of why the merger / acquisition strategy was undertaken and have sufficient information to assess its success (or otherwise) I don't think this would end up being a successful project. I am sorry if this is a disappointment, but really it is better to know this now rather than be disheartened and told your topic wasn't really suitable in the marker feedback. (If you are looking for a possible new topic then there should be plenty of material on Carillion for Topic 17 for a pass if you approach the topic appropriately)

@traphena thanks for the feed back .i just want to give u a complete overview ofwhat I plan to do or have done so far as I feel that I did not explain myself well in my previous post. I have done a full swot on both companies with which I plan to demonstrate suitability(from SFA model) of the decision. I mean that I have pointed out how one company's strength can be used to overcome the others weakness or explore its opportunity.i also plan to use financial analysis to back the swot and sfa e.g. One of the strength of the acquired was high cash reserves(from cash flow statement) so this can be used to back an opportunity of doing more acquisitions on the swot and also feasibility (available resources) on the sfa For "acceptability " from sfa I plan to use mendelows matrix on stakeholders and analyze each category I have written a section on the back ground of the merger where I explored the strategic reasons for the merger.two e.g. Are as follows: 1. Management expected synergies such as cost savings of 1.5 billion annually 2. The acquiring company planned to use its international presence to sell the targets company's products To analyze whether this was achieved i will take individual total cost for each company add them to get combined pre acquisition cost and then compare to the new company's total expenses to see if the 1.5 expected savings was achieved. I was able to get only 2015 financials for the acquiring company but that will give me two years results as it includes 2014 results but I will explain this as a limitation and why I only did pre merger financial analysis for only two years. An issue I have is that I got the post merger annual reports from the security and exchange commission website submitted through form 10k which are supposed to be audited but it does not include an audit opinion so I'm not sure if it is audited or not.can I go ahead and use it? For the international sales I plan to use the acquirers financials (segment reports)to see if the percentage of sales oversees has increased or decreased compared to premerger. For operational results as I said in my previous email there have been some redundancies and closing of facilities.this I plan to analyze using the financials coz it has no of processing facilities and workers.i also have backings for this through analyst reports and news articles. For culture the only thing I could think about is that the acquired company has a very hard approach to cost cutting and for e.g. There executives even fly coach so I was thinking this will affect the acquired company's staff. They also implemented zero based budgeting which is new to the acquired company. In summary I plan to use three models swot,sfa and mm plus financial ratios. do you still think I'm not on the right track ? Have I completely misunderstood what I'm supposed to do? please let me know what you think. i have done a lot of work and if I change topic I don't think I will be able to submit in may with all my other commitments. Thanks for the help

Forgot to add...I have also assessed pre merger trends eg sales growth rate etc for the acquiring company and computed some ratios .i plan to do the same for post merger results .please reply ASAP.thanks again

@imaan From your first post it looked as if you hadn't got much pre-merger information. However from what you have said subsequently it does sound as it you have acquired sufficient data and information for you to be able to do some original analysis of your own and produce a project that potentially would fulfil the assessment criteria and RAP requirements. In fact you seem have a good understanding and grasped what is required with your plan to demonstrate strengths/ opportunity from the SWOT Outline the reasons for the merger/acquisition and identify the strategies and then go on to do analyse the subsequent position The cost information and pre-merger sales information would be very useful for your analyais(do you have both companies figures for sales?). This and profit, gearing and share information would then allow you to make comparisons with the post merger situation as that in turn will help you form an opinion, backed up by evidence, of whether the merger / acquisition has been successful. There is no problem using several models as long as they are 'adding value' in helping you build up a strong evaluation (sometimes students just put in lots of models that are not really making a valid contribution to advancing the analysis and end up being just a waste of words). Overall however you seem to be putting together a well thought through project and as long as you reference adequately and keep within the word count there is a good chance it will get a decent grade - so well done so far!

@ traphena thank you very much for the feedback. I am very grateful.i have an issue I need clarification on and will really appreciate your help. The merger I'm basing the RAP on happened early to mid 2015 so my premerger years are 2012,2013 and 2014.however the acquiring company was itself acquired in mid 2013. As a result of the 2013 acquisition the company's year end was changed by the new owners from April 30 to dec 31.the financials therefore include a full year 2012 result (ending 28 April 2013), 9 months results( 29th April-31 dec 2013) and full year 2014(Jan-dec 2014) The nine months (2013 results) is known as the transition period which includes certain expenses relating specifically to the acquisition which I believe may distort the true picture of expenses trend My question now is how do I compare like for like if 2013 has only 9 months results?do I improvise by doing an estimate of the fourth quarter based on the average of the 3 quarters and explain my limitation and why i had to improvise? In relation to the acquisition expenses Should I adjust the reported expense amounts with the acquisition expenses to eliminate them in my analysis or include them as part of the reasons for the trends? Thanks again for everything.you cannot imagine how much your feedback has helped me.

@traphena I went through the financial statements again and I noted that to assess performance the p&l was restated after the year end change.it includes three p&l The first one compares 2013 and 14 performance and the p&l was prepared for the 12 months period to 31 dec 2013/14(52 weeks ) The second compares 2013 and 2012 the p&l was prepared for the period April to dec 2012/13(34 weeks). The third one is explained in my previous post My question again is how do I establish the trend for three years when each was based on different period(lengths). Do I show trend for each of the two periods separately and do my analysis separately as the company has done?I mean for eg do one graph showing 2013- 2014 and another showing 2013-2012 and do my analysis for each based on the periods ? Or do I do one graph with all three results and one analysis (but in this case 2014,2013will be for 52 weeks while 2012 will be for 34 wks) I don’t know if I make sense but I can send you the financials through email if you don’t mind looking at it so that you can understand what I’m trying to say if this post is not too clear.

Apologies for the delay in responding - I have been away fir a couple of weeks. You can turn everything into ratios using the figures from the reports you have as ratios obviate the need to do adjustments. Make it as simple and easy for yourself - by using ratios you should then be able to do line graphs from them giving you trend lines

Dear Traphena Thank you for responding and for all the help. I don't see how I could have come this far without this forum. I have a further clarification though. In your response above I think you are saying the ratios obviate the need for adjustment. I don't quite get it . For eg calculating the ratio I noted that for eg in calculating asset turnover using sales of 34 weeks( lower) gave a lower ratio as compared to using sales of 52 weeks( high amount).wont this distort my analysis? Also in another forum you stated that it is better to discuss continuous trends eg 2012-2016 but in my case I haven't done that because I thought comparing 52 weeks against 34 weeks will not be correct. I have compared 2014 vs 2013 and 2013 vs 2012. This resulted in using more words so I am desperate to rectify the situation if there is a better way out. Please respond and thanks again

Yes I see the problem here as with asset turnover you are using P&L figures for 34 weeks and 52 weeks over the same balance sheet denominator. So no ratios won't work in this scenario (however they would where you are using a denominator that similarly relates to P &L 34 weeks e.g. GP or NP. Your only alternative is to priorate the P&L figures to turn them into 52 weeks if you really want to use balance sheet numbers as part of the ratio calculations. Comments have be interpreted in the context given. Continuous trends would normally be appropriate for Topic 8 as business strategic decisions may affect more than one year. Mergers and acquisitions are extreme strategic decisions and in Topic 19 it is the effect of these specific decisions you need to evaluate. The consequences of a merger/ acquisition will impact on many areas of the business not just financial performance so the analysis needs to be as 'holistic' as possible. I am not so sure how relevant comparing 2013 with 2012 is for a company being studied in 2018 so ask yourself (a) is this section adding value? Or (b) am I just including it because I am following a routine approach? Obviously if (b) chop it out.

Hello Traphena, many thanks for your reply. The merger I'm basing the RAP on happened mid 2015 so my premerger years are 2012,2013,2014.I agree with you maybe I'm adopting a routine approach as I thought I need to do three years pre and post merger. I can exclude 2012/13 and explain why I excluded it ( the restatement for a shorter period ie34 weeks etc) as a limitation but wont I be penalized by the markers for not doing three years? Or do you think prorating is better as you also suggested? Also I am really running low on word count so I was thinking of abbreviating some key words I have used a lot in the rap. eg the first time I mention Berkshire Hathaway I put (BH) in bracket and then write BH any other time I want to mention them. Is this okay? Thanks a million. God bless you ma!

I think the post merger years are quite important as they help you to assess the success / issues / highlights and / or failure of the merger / acquisition whereas the pre-merger years merely indicate what may have led to the decision. As always it Is original analysis and critical thought that will drive your grade. You can always show the trendline for several years pre merger but don't waste too many words other than state the case for the decision and the main factors behind it.