A few years back I organised a business debate on the merits or otherwise of what is now known as the “worst merger in history”. The $350bn merger between AOL (America Online) and Time Warner was announced on 10 January 2000. Two years later, the combined business posted a $98bn loss. Within 10 years AOL was spun off and subsequently acquired by Verizon in 2015 for $4.bn, while Time Warner was also dismantled and parts sold-off.

What makes a good merger or acquisition? I recall discussing that question with the other 71 equity partners within the European and Middle East arm of Davis Langdon back in early 2009. Some in the room that day are now contemplating the proceeds from CBRE’s share acquisition of Turner and Townsend Holdings Limited.

Davis Langdon, was a firm with an enviable history of ‘Thinking Big’, a history recorded in a book of the same title written by one of its partners, Jim Meikle (then retired), published in March 2009. From its origins in 1919 in Holborn, through geographic expansion and merger, the firm grew in the wake of the British Empire. A step change was realised in 1988 with the merger of Langdon & Every with Davis, Belfield and Everest, creating the global firm of Davis Langdon & Everest with Davis Langdon & Seah in the Far East. Continued acquisition and merger supported diversification from core quantity surveying and cost management to the multi-disciplinary firm that AECOM acquired in October 2010.

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