M&A Slide [How to present mergers or acquisitions]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Our client, Julia, a Strategy Director, asked us an interesting question while we were building their M&A slide deck:
“How do we present this merger without making it sound like corporate jargon nobody trusts?”
Our Creative Director answered:
“By speaking to what changes for the people, not just the business.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on many M&A slides throughout the year, some for internal town halls, others for investor announcements, and plenty for boardroom pitches. And in the process, we’ve noticed one recurring challenge: Everyone tries too hard to sound smart and forgets to be clear.
So, in this blog, we’ll talk about how to present mergers or acquisitions in a way that actually lands with decision-makers, employees, and anyone else who matters.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
What an M&A Slide Needs to Do
Most M&A slides read like a legal disclosure married a buzzword generator. They say a lot, but mean very little to the average reader. That’s a problem. Because an M&A slide isn’t just a formality. It’s the slide everyone holds their breath for. It’s the moment in the deck where you either gain trust—or lose the room.
So, what does an M&A slide actually need to do?
It needs to bridge business logic with emotional intelligence. You’re not just showing what’s changing. You’re explaining why it’s happening, how it benefits each party, and what the implications are for the audience in front of you—whether that’s employees, shareholders, or a skeptical board.
And it needs to do all of that quickly. You can’t take five slides to warm up to the point. You have to hit the “why this makes sense” button fast—and hard.
In short: the M&A slide isn’t a transaction update. It’s a trust exercise. And the way you present it determines how much buy-in you’ll actually get.
How to Make the M&A Slide (That Actually Works)
1. Define the Slide’s Core Job
Start here: what exactly should this slide convey?
You’d be surprised how many companies skip this and go straight into layout. But without a clear answer, you’re designing blind.
For most use cases, the job of the M&A slide is to answer one strategic question:
Why do these two companies belong together — and what’s the clear outcome of their union?
That’s it. Every single element on the slide should build toward that answer. If it doesn’t contribute to that core message, it doesn’t belong.
2. Use a Split Structure: Before and After
In 90% of cases, the most effective layout is a split-slide. One half shows Company A, the other shows Company B. The middle or bottom presents the combined outcome.
We typically structure it like this:
Left section: Company A’s key strengths — markets, products, customers, IP, capabilities
Right section: Company B’s corresponding value — distribution, brand, tech, etc.
Bottom or center: What the combination achieves — a single statement or visual
This format works because it’s naturally comparative. It lets the viewer see the complement. You’re not just saying A + B = Growth. You’re showing exactly how A and B plug into each other.
This layout also helps you avoid clutter. If you try to explain both companies and the future impact in a scattered format, you’ll confuse everyone.
3. Visuals Over Paragraphs
Nobody wants to read. Especially not during a high-stakes presentation.
The fastest way to lose the room is to slap a wall of text on your M&A slide. Instead, use visual anchors — icon-text combinations, logos, infographics, branded elements. Keep each point short, strong, and visual.
For example:
Use a globe icon with “Global reach: 22 countries” instead of writing “Company A’s presence in 22 international markets creates a strong base for expansion.”
Use a product stack visual showing each company’s offering, leading to a unified product ecosystem
Keep each visual element tight, scannable, and on-message. Your job is not to say everything — it’s to make the deal instantly understandable.
4. Show the Business Case in a Line
We like to use one strong anchor sentence near the center or bottom. Something that sums up the entire rationale of the deal in real language.
Not:“Unlocking synergistic capabilities across verticals.”
But:“Together, we deliver more products, to more customers, in half the time.”
This line becomes the lens through which the audience understands everything else on the slide. Without it, your visuals float. With it, they click.
This line should be short, simple, and confidence-inducing. The kind of sentence an exec can repeat in an elevator without needing notes.
5. Use Real Data, But Keep It Focused
Yes, you’ll need to show impact. But don’t turn this into a finance slide.
Pick three data points max that communicate the business case clearly. Use only numbers that have strategic weight. For example:
Combined customer base
Market penetration (before vs. after)
Projected revenue or EBITDA uplift
Product line expansion
Geographic coverage
Present the numbers visually. Pie charts, clean bar graphs, or simple callouts work best. You’re not making a case study here — you’re reinforcing the value in a format the brain can grasp in 5 seconds.
Also, use round numbers where you can. Nobody needs to see “4,398,223 users.” Write “4.3M+ users served” — it feels strategic, not granular.
6. Make the Identity of the Combined Entity Clear
Whether the brands are merging, co-existing, or one is acquiring the other, show what the unified identity looks and feels like.
This could be:
A joint logo lock-up
A shared tagline or mission statement
A blended color palette
When we built a slide for a fintech merger recently, we used the two brands’ core colors to create a new gradient and placed it behind a shared mission: “Together, we simplify payments for 100M+ users.”
Even if the brand identities stay separate publicly, your audience needs to understand how the companies present as one in this context. That cohesion should be visible.
7. Kill the Corporate Speak
Corporate jargon kills clarity. Most M&A slides we’re brought in to fix suffer from this. Instead of saying what’s happening, they hide it behind meaningless phrases.
Here’s a simple rule: if a high-schooler wouldn’t understand your headline, rewrite it.
Avoid:
“Operational efficiencies and synergies”
“Go-to-market optimization”
“Core adjacency alignment”
Use:
“Faster delivery through shared logistics”
“One sales team, two product lines”
“Expanded reach across Europe and Southeast Asia”
M&A presentations are usually shown to sharp people — board members, investors, execs. They know fluff when they see it. Talk like you mean it.
8. Don’t Fake the Visuals
We often see companies use vague illustrations to depict “collaboration” or “partnership” — usually stock icons of people shaking hands or bridges connecting cliffs.
Avoid those.
Instead, use:
Product screenshots
Real team photos (if the audience is internal)
Maps showing market coverage
Logos of shared clients or vendors
Even simple branded icons feel more legitimate than abstract metaphors. The more grounded your slide feels, the more your audience will trust what they see.
9. Keep the Timeline Optional
Some M&A slides try to include a full timeline of the deal. That’s fine only if timing is central to the message.
If the audience already knows the timeline — or if the focus is on strategic rationale — leave it out.
When you do include it, show:
Signing
Approval stages
Integration phases
Go-live
Keep it lean. We’ve seen timelines that try to cover 18 months in 5 point font. Don’t. Use a horizontal visual, maybe five clear milestones, and space it out.
Otherwise, move the timeline to a separate slide where it can breathe.
10. Stress-Test Your Slide in 10 Seconds
This is our last check before a slide goes to the client. We call it the 10-second test.
Here’s how it works:
Pull up the slide.
Show it to someone unfamiliar with the deal.
Give them 10 seconds.
Ask: “What’s the key message you got?”
If they can’t answer clearly, your slide isn’t ready. A great M&A slide should hit in seconds. Not after a deep explanation. Not with a presenter narrating every word.
Remember: the best slide doesn’t just show information. It makes a decision feel obvious.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.