Mergers & Acquisitions
The Herald Group helps shape the political, regulatory and public environment surrounding complex transactions, from announcement through regulatory approval by building support, reducing uncertainty and improving the path to close.
Successful deals require more than strong financial and legal strategy. They require earning the confidence of policymakers, regulators and key stakeholders before opposition defines the narrative.
THE PROBLEM
A transaction that is legally sound can still fail without the right narrative.
Most M&A communications support focuses on investor relations, financial press, and deal announcements. The period between signing and close is where deals are most vulnerable — and where public affairs determines whether a transaction reaches the finish line intact.
Regulatory bodies respond to organized outside pressure. Policymakers intervene when constituents and allies give them reason to. Media coverage shapes how regulators, employees, customers, and communities understand a transaction before any official review is complete. And opponents have sophisticated playbooks for using all of those pressure points to delay, damage, or block a deal.
M&A communications should begin before the announcement, not after questions start coming.
Matt Well
Partner at The Herald Group
WHAT WE DO
Innovative Strategies + Extensive Capabilities
THG works with your legal representation and internal teams to deploy integrated M&A communications and public affairs programs. The program is built to manage the political, regulatory, and reputational environment around corporate transactions from pre-announcement through regulatory approval and close.
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Pre-Transaction Landscape Assessment & Threat Mapping
Defines the narrative environment before engagement begins.
THG maps the political, regulatory, and media environment around a transaction by identifying likely opponents, regulatory pressure points, and the narratives most likely to emerge at announcement. Most deals are won or lost in the period between signing and close. Understanding the environment before entering it is the first advantage.
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Transaction Narrative & Messaging Development
Shapes the core storyline that positions the transaction and anticipates opposition arguments.
THG develops the core narrative for a transaction. This includes why it benefits customers, employees, and communities and builds the right messaging architecture. A transaction without a clear, compelling public narrative is defined by its opponents before it can define itself.
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Stakeholder Mapping & Engagement
Identifies and prioritizes the audiences that influence outcomes.
THG identifies and engages both federal and state policymakers, regulators, community leaders, and industry voices whose support or opposition will shape the regulatory review and public perception of the deal. Stakeholder engagement in M&A communications is most valuable when it begins before regulatory proceedings open and before opposition has organized.
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Regulatory & Government Affairs Communications & Strategy
Coordinates messaging across policy, legal, and public channels to support approvals.
THG develops and executes M&A communications strategies targeted at the regulatory bodies reviewing a transaction—including the FTC, DOJ, FCC, CFIUS, and sector-specific regulators—ensuring decision-makers understand the transaction's benefits and the broader public interest case for approval before the opposition frames it otherwise.
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Earned Media & Press Strategy
Establishes visibility and credibility through disciplined, proactive media engagement.
THG manages the media environment around a transaction announcement and throughout the regulatory review period by building reporter relationships, placing favorable coverage, and responding rapidly to opposition narratives before they take hold in the outlets that regulators, policymakers, and key stakeholders read.
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Outside Voices & Third-Party Support
Deploys credible outside voices to reinforce arguments and expand influence.
THG identifies and mobilizes third-party allies. These include trade associations, suppliers, community organizations, elected officials, labor groups, and industry voices who can speak credibly in support of the transaction and counter organized opposition in media and regulatory proceedings.
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Opposition Monitoring & Rapid Response
Tracks and counters competing narratives before they gain traction.
THG’s War Room approach tracks what opponents—including competitors, advocacy groups, plaintiffs' attorneys, and hostile politicians—are saying and doing throughout the transaction timeline, and develops counter-strategies in real time. In M&A communications, the opposition rarely announces its intentions. Continuous monitoring is the only way to stay ahead.
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Employee & Internal Communications
Aligns internal and external messaging throughout high‑stakes deal activity.
THG develops employee communications strategies that maintain workforce stability and ensure employees understand the transaction on the organization's terms, not through rumors or media coverage.
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Crisis & Rapid Response
Ensures preparedness to respond quickly at critical moments or unexpected developments.
THG builds the crisis communications infrastructure to manage those moments quickly and consistently, without derailing the transaction or creating new vulnerabilities.
Designed to Fit Your Needs
M&A public affairs is a specialized discipline that sits at the intersection of regulatory communications, earned media, coalition building, and crisis management.
The transactions that close successfully are rarely the ones with the smoothest legal path. They are the ones with the strongest public affairs program around them.
Build Credible Outside Support
Third-party voices carry more weight with regulators than the companies involved. THG builds and activates that support where it matters most.
Fill the Gap That Financial PR Leaves Open
THG manages the political and regulatory environment — the part that determines whether a transaction closes.
Engage Stakeholders Before They Become Opponents
THG identifies and engages the right voices before the opposition does.
Protect Organizational Value Throughout the Process
Reputational damage and hostile coverage erode deal value. THG limits that exposure across the full arc of the transaction.
Meet the team behind THG's mergers and acquisitions communications practice. Our public affairs firm has over 20 years of experience managing complex corporate transactions, regulatory communications campaigns, and high-stakes advocacy programs across every major industry sector.
Our Team
Matt Well
Partner
Matt specializes in the regulatory and communications strategy behind complex transactions, bringing a rare understanding of how government interacts with capital markets from his tenure as SEC Director of Public Affairs.
Steven Smith
Vice President
Steven specializes in financial services communications, having guided messaging for the House FinTech Task Force and a House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman focused on financial regulation.
Robert Brooks
Vice President
Robert specializes in stakeholder engagement and digital strategy, guiding clients through CFIUS review and regulatory approval with the messaging that carries a deal to close.
Meet Team THG
Meet our entire team of political campaign mentalities, MBA acumen, and more.
