Due diligence for assets that are changing underneath the deal
Why commercial, operational and technology diligence must increasingly test future scenarios rather than validate historical performance.
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M&A strategy
Shape M&A strategy from portfolio rationale and target priorities through diligence, value creation and integration.
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Articles
Integration is where the deal thesis gets tested
How post-merger operating choices, synergy discipline and organizational readiness determine whether expected transaction value reaches performance.
Read articleFocus
Target screening should begin with acquisition criteria, not company databases
A useful radar translates strategic priorities into observable characteristics that distinguish relevant targets from merely available ones.
Separation strategy defines what must stand alone before an asset can truly leave
Divestitures require clarity on systems, people, contracts, data and shared services that were never designed to operate independently.
Strategic challenges
Is the buyer ready for the deal it is considering?
The challenge is separating strategic appetite from the practical capacity to fund, integrate and govern an acquisition.
Which businesses no longer justify their place in the portfolio?
The challenge is separating temporary underperformance from assets whose strategic fit, economics or ownership logic has structurally weakened.
POV
A synergy without an owner, action and baseline is not value; it is optimism
Deal economics should include only benefits that can be traced to specific changes the combined business can realistically execute.
Buying a capability is not always the smartest way to access it
Ownership should be justified by strategic necessity, not by the assumption that control automatically creates more value.
Strategic impact
Commercial diligence makes the revenue thesis more explicit and testable
Independent evidence on customers, markets and competition helps buyers assess growth quality and downside exposure.
Cross-border analysis makes jurisdiction-specific deal constraints visible earlier
Testing market access, governance and integration conditions helps buyers assess where geographic complexity changes the thesis.
What we observe
Buy-and-build programs often acquire faster than the platform can integrate
Deal cadence can outrun systems, management capacity and operating-model maturity, leaving value trapped across disconnected assets.
Target lists often become long because acquisition criteria remain vague
Broad screening creates activity but little discrimination when strategic fit is described in generic rather than testable terms.