LabCorp, Covance hire Deloitte to help with merger

06-Jan-2015 - Last updated on 06-Jan-2015 at 08:12 GMT

Lots of corporate speak at the latest merger meeting.

As the waiting period for LabCorp and Covance to proceed with their integration ended late last month, both companies are now turning to the logistics of the merger and hiring Deloitte consultants to help.

In a letter to employees, Steve Anderson, SVP and global head of clinical trials at LabCorp, and Jared Freedberg, VP of corporate development at Covance, wrote that following the closure of the $6.1bn deal, the drug development division of LabCorp will be operated under the Covance name, logo and brand.

Deloitte Consulting will help both sides of the merger, which will be led by functional area and business unit teams, as well as sub-teams “to focus on critical aspects of the proposed integration.”

Each team has created “a charter as well as an initial set of goals” from the closing of the deal to the end of the first year.

The companies held their first face-to-face leadership team meeting at the LabCorp headquarters in Burlington, North Carolina on December 17-18. The attendees included all of the 24 core team members, along with the Deloitte engagement team.

“The meeting was extremely productive, and we continue to be impressed by the energy and enthusiasm our leaders and employees have directed toward the merger,” the LabCorp and Covance execs said.

The focus on the companies was:

	•		The need for operational readiness on Day 1;
	•		The importance of interdependencies between the functional areas and business unit teams;
	•		An initial understanding on what is needed for Day 90 and Day 365 preparation activities; and
	•		An understanding of how the functional areas can work together “to identify and achieve broader goals aligned with strategic opportunities.”

Deloitte also helped to summarize the different ways in which they will assist throughout the integration process. The company did not respond to a request for comment on the details of how they would help.

The companies plan to reconvene in mid-January at the Covance headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey.

“We must also remind everybody that, at the same time these critically important integration planning efforts are underway, we must continue to operate as two separate companies until the transaction closes,” the senior execs said.