Is This the Year of the Big Merger ?

By the looks of things so far in 2015 could turn out to be the year of the big merger. A few examples of note include:

• Kraft & Heinz
• Safeway and Albertsons
• Ahold merging with Delhaize
• And last week Aetna and Humana announced they will get together

It is mergers of this size that make us realize the business is about the big shareholders and returns on investments – rather than on the business itself. The numbers are enormous and business implications just as large.  Consider

• Kraft & Heinz just completed their transaction forming a business that will generate approximately $30 billion in annual revenue.  The leader in this industry is Nestle at $100 billion.
• When Albertson and Safeway complete that deal, they will have a new company with approximately $60 billion annually.
• An even bigger play in the grocery segment will be created when Ahold and Delhaize finalize that transaction with combined revenue in excess of $70 billion. The leader in this market is Kroger at the $100 billion level.
• Last week, Aetna and Humana announced their merger where Aetna had 2014 revenues at $58 billion and Humana reported $48 billion.

As always, we have encouraged data managers to keep track of these major announcements and update their database when the deals are finalized.  Any number of things can happen before a deal is completed. These kind of activities can have major implications to business plans, territory assignments and company coverage.