A Unified Identity: The Secret to Chr. Hansen’s Merger Success

“Our shared identity and branding right after the acquisition were key in ensuring integration success.”

Linda Neckmar, SVP, Human Health at Chr. Hansen

At a Morning Seminar about the importance of identity and culture in M&As, Linda Neckmar, SVP in Human Health at Chr. Hansen reflects on the identity and brand track of the integration of UAS Labs into Chr. Hansen Human Health.

It was 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic and worldwide shutdowns. Chr. Hansen had just acquired the US-based company UAS Labs in Wisconsin at a transaction value, net of tax assets, of USD 530 million.
It was decided upfront that UAS Labs should be integrated with all its employees into Chr. Hansen’s Human Health department. However, the joint identity, brand strategy, positioning in the market, brand architecture, and the product naming system for the joint product portfolio were in scope for discussion. This was the moment when IDna Group was asked to support the Human Health and UAS Labs teams in aligning on the best way to proceed, enabling the joint Human Health department to meet the given ambitious targets.

What looked good on paper as the perfect strategic match was, in reality, not just different offerings supplementing each other for higher sales synergies but different cultures driving the different offerings, which easily could cause conflicts and power struggles between employees.

Soon, it became clear that the speed to market of both companies was very different. The quality-focused and process-oriented corporate company Chr. Hansen was meeting a start-up mentality that believed in “time as the enemy of all deals“. At the same time, Chr. Hansen Human Health was working with the company’s Danish heritage as a synonym for trust, reliability and high quality. But now, with an extensive part of the business being located in the US, the “Danish” heritage was no longer the DNA of the joint unit.

The integration team from Chr. Hansen had the courtesy to understand the integration of UAS Labs as a healthy impulse and a chance to increase customer centricity and agility for the entire unit, building on the strength of its acquisition.

“During the integration process, we loved the expression, “Best of both worlds”. However, in the communication towards the employees, it was crucial to highlight that it meant that employees from both companies had to change and adopt some elements from the respective other team. An acquisition of that size will also change the acquirer, and it is important to communicate that openly.”

Linda Neckmar, SVP, Human Health at Chr. Hansen

“I cannot emphasise it enough”, says Linda. “While internal processes are important, for us, it was key to focus on strong external branding towards customers. Our shared identity, strong branding and launching a compelling joint product portfolio right after the acquisition were key in ensuring ongoing and prospective customer relations.”

The integration of UAS Labs was successful. The joint team realised all planned synergy effects and delivered on all defined targets; quite a remarkable achievement, taking Covid, the time pressure as well as the worrying statistic of successful mergers only accounting for 30% into consideration.

We want to thank Linda Neckmar for sharing her experiences with us.

IDna Group’s recommendations for assessing identity & culture in M&As:

• Be aware of your own identity and culture before starting your acquisition journey and screening for targets.
• Keep in mind that different departments in global companies can have sub-identities and sub-cultures. The assessment of identity and culture in M&As should not only happen on a corporate level but also on department/team level, where the integration will take place. 
• Don’t ask yourself why a target company fits your identity and culture. Ask why it doesn’t fit to enable yourself to discover the actual differences.
• Don’t just look at the defined values. Be curious about how they are understood and lived in the organisation. There is often a gap between the aspiration and what is true. 
• It is not enough to assess organisational identity and culture by talking to the management. You also need access to middle management and preferably employees to understand the company’s true identity.
• Consider investing in a DNA Due Diligence. Undiscovered differences in organisational identity and culture can potentially cost you much more after closing.  

About Linda Neckmar

As Senior Vice President of the Human Health division at Chr. Hansen, Linda was responsible for managing the brand track and integration of the US-based company UAS Labs, acquired for USD 530 million in 2020, into the Human Health business unit of Chr. Hansen. Linda reflected on the integration process at the Morning seminar “Caveat emptor! Avoiding integration failure in acquisitions due to identity mismatches” in May 2023. She shared her view on how working with identity and the mantra of “creating the best of both worlds” has guided the process.