Bespoke reporting and advice for corporates that are considering an acquisition, or funders such as private equity houses, banks and specialist debt providers. Great financial due diligence supports you in several ways including identifying key deal matters that could impact areas such as profitability, future cash flows, valuation, completion pricing mechanisms, legal protections, and wider business risks or upsides. The work that we carry out is, of course, tailored to your specific requirements for the particular transaction and any concerns that you may have. This often includes:
• Analysis of historical trading, balance sheet and cash flows
• Understanding and establishing deal price drivers such as quality of earnings, normalised working capital, and cash/debt
• Assessment of trading budgets or integrated forecasts
• Identification of potential tax risks
• Financial systems and the control environment
A timely, insightful and effective financial due diligence process will greatly contribute to the overall deal process and the success of the opportunity going forwards post completion. However, our transaction support extends beyond due diligence work and often leads into other areas of advice that help facilitate an efficient and value added process, such as tax structuring, assisting your legal team on the financial aspects of the legal documentation for the transaction, funds flows and completion accounts.
Vendor due diligence – we deliver a tailored, third party due diligence report instructed by the shareholders of the business that will be subject to the review, but with the ultimate acquiror or funder subsequently being able to place reliance on it. A vendor due diligence process allows complex issues, risks or upsides to be communicated in a controlled and consistent manner, and can help maintain competitive tension when seeking final offers or in an auction style process.
Vendor assist – similar to vendor due diligence, vendor assist is instructed by the business that is being sold or seeking funding. However, a vendor assist report is for the use of the company itself to help present financial information consistently and in a suitable manner to help with the assessment of the business.
