One of my current projects is a good example for the difficulties an M&A advisor may have to face if the goals of the key players in the project are not aligned with the goals of the selling shareholders. In the current case, the management board has made one of their business unit managers the project manager for a divestiture. However, he is not interested in the sale of the assets quite the opposite. Nor is the CFO to expect a real benefit from a sale. The effect is that the majority of detailed questions interested parties had asked and non-standard info material they had requested were either not answered at all or after too long a time only. Conclusion: Shareholders better incentivize the people in their organization who are key to the success of the M&A project in such a way that they see a benefit in doing the significant extra work required to turn the project into a success.