Mercer's M&A Ready™ 2008, October 15-16 in Chicago: M&A Workshop Provides HR Leaders with Global Knowledge and Practical Skills

Business Wire, August 19, 2008

* Prepares HR leaders and their teams to add value before, during and after the deal

* Sessions scheduled for October 15-16 in Chicago, previous sessions have been held in Asia, Europe, Canada, Latin America, and throughout the United States.

CHICAGO -- Human Resource executives and other professionals responsible for the human capital aspects of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals should mark their calendars for Mercer's M&A Ready[TM] 2008 workshop series, being held October 15-16 at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Gleacher Center, in Chicago. By attending this interactive two-day workshop, graduates will gain an understanding of M&A fundamentals from the Human Resource perspective. M&A Ready(TM) enables professionals to better advise the deal team on how human capital policies, programs and practices affect deal success and help their organizations generate better short and long-term results for employees, customers and shareholders.

"Recent research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) highlights the fact that some of the most significant challenges organizations face in doing M&A relate to people," said Len Gray, who is based in Chicago and serves as Americas head of Mercer's global M&A consulting business. "Chief among these issues are cultural integration, employee engagement and leadership retention. With so much at stake and failure still all too common, HR leaders need to be at the deal table in order to better ensure the success of all M&A people-related issues. Our global workshops are unique in that we can show HR leaders how to be truly 'ready' with practical advice, real-world examples, best-practices, active discussion and debate, and proprietary Mercer reference materials, tools and sample templates."

Mercer's global M&A consulting business is a world leader in M&A human capital consulting, supporting private equity and corporate clients in more than 800 transactions a year. Assisting clients in all phases of deal transactions, from due diligence, to "day 1" and integration, are more than 175 dedicated engagement and project management consultants. These specialists in turn work with thousands of other Mercer consultant colleagues who possess various expertise in a variety of human capital/resource areas in order to provide the best possible M&A solutions for clients.

Mercer M&A Ready[TM] 2008 workshops are led by seasoned professionals with hands-on deal experience as part of Mercer's global M&A consulting business. As Edgar Rosas, HR Director, Cablemas and a 2007 M&A Ready[TM] graduate explained, "The Mercer consultant faculty have a rich background of experiences which allowed them to give us countless examples, a situation which favors an interchange of ideas and contributes much substance to the methodology being presented."

The Chicago workshop in October is the last of seven workshops conducted in the Americas in 2008. Complete information, including a full schedule of Mercer M&A Ready[TM] 2008 workshops and online registration, is available at http://www.mercer.com/maready.

Note to editors - Mercer's M&A consultants are available for interviews on a variety of M&A topics, particularly as they relate to human capital/human resource issues. To schedule an interview, please contact the appropriate Mercer media relations professional.

About Mercer

Mercer is a leading global provider of consulting, outsourcing, and investment services. Mercer works with clients to solve their most complex benefit and human capital issues, designing and helping manage health, retirement, and other benefits. It is a leader in benefits outsourcing. Mercer's investment services include investment consulting and multi-manager investment management. Mercer's 17,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York, Chicago, and London stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.mercer.com.