EXPERTISE IN GROWTH SOLUTIONS

ACQUISITION TARGETS AND TEAM IDENTIFICATION

THE BRIEF

To assist a major financial institution in adding additional advisory services to its European-centric M&A business. Areas considered were M&A, debt restructuring, debt advisory and equity advisory. Whilst an acquisition was preferred, we were also asked to look at potential team hires without onerous non-compete clauses in their contracts.

THE CHALLENGE

Extensive research and due diligence were required to advise our client on which advisory services would provide the best ROE. Since some advisory services are highly cyclical, we also wanted to ensure our client wasn’t overpaying for an impressive ROE that was performing at its peak or underpaying for modest returns that could shortly take off. Furthermore, it was necessary to ensure a good cultural fit and the long-term benefit from the acquisition for both parties. As this project took place over the 2016 European referendum, we also had to analyse the positive and negative impacts this might have.

THE SOLUTION

We conducted a thorough mapping of the potential acquisition opportunities where we felt there was sufficient upside to warrant an acquisition.  We also looked at teams whose contracts were domiciled in jurisdictions where non-compete clauses were not relevant. We shortlisted five institutions, covering three different advisory services. These were extensively referenced in a confidential manner leading the client to reduce this list to two.

US STRATEGIC ACQUISITION

THE BRIEF

A US client wanted to expand their strategic consultancy offering to include dedicated coverage of the UK and Continental Europe.

THE CHALLENGE

Strategic consultancies come in many forms.  Although the brief was to identify businesses of an appropriate size that had the experience and knowledge-base to operate with Global 1000 companies, our challenge was finding consultancies whose culture could match the entrepreneurial and creative demands of our client.  We also needed to ensure that the target consultancies’ expertise wasn’t restricted to one or two sectors and that the advice they offered related to major strategic changes or challenges.  They would also have to be able to operate within a very team-orientated culture where service divisions are actively encouraged to leverage their combined knowledge and experience.

As our US-based client had limited availability for meetings with target companies, we had to ensure that every target on the shortlist both fitted the brief and was motivated to engage.

THE SOLUTION

Through extensive conversations with target companies and cross-referring our information, we identified a very select shortlist.  This enabled the client to focus quickly on the most suitable targets, leading to successful completion of the acquisition within 6 months of the initial engagement.