Due Diligence Services

Our strategic intelligence partners provide proprietary, custom research and analysis services that allow clients to evaluate the attractiveness of acquisition target(s), mitigate transaction risks, and identify the opportunities and challenges of growing an acquired business. We combine their capabilities with our deep industry knowledge and deal experience to enable clients to maximize the benefits of a transaction. We tailor our services to a client’s needs, and can perform preliminary due diligence to support an investment thesis and help assess the relative attractiveness of acquisition candidates, or confirmatory due diligence to aid in structuring and negotiating the terms of an indication of interest, letter of intent or purchase agreement.

Providence's strategic intelligence partners specialize in employing "primary source" research methods to generate market and company-specific information and analyses. Primary source research refers to intelligence gathering based on focused, confidential interviews with the acquisition target(s), competitors, suppliers, customers and other key market participants to generate information unavailable from public sources, unbiased by the acquiring entity’s preconceived notions, and unfiltered by secondary sources such as multiclient industry “studies.” Our strategic intelligence specialists are expert at not only gathering, but also analyzing and interpreting, data in the context of the specific transaction or growth opportunity at hand. In addition, because of our deep industry knowledge and industry contacts, Providence’s bankers help to focus the intelligence gathering project at the front end, access industry participants, explore all critical issues and topics during the project, and augment the analysis to highlight key conclusions in a project report.

Our selected strategic intelligence partners have an extensive track record of assignments successfully completed for private equity groups and corporate clients.

Although customized to meet a client’s specific needs, topics addressed in Providence’s due diligence studies typically include:

• The strength and advantages of the acquisition candidate's product/service offering
• The competitive structure and dynamics of the acquisition candidate's primary market(s)
• Competitive position of the acquisition candidate in its primary market(s)
• Key success factors within the acquisition candidate's primary market(s)
• Growth opportunities/challenges within the acquisition candidate's primary market(s)
• Need for/benefit of additional investment in capital equipment, marketing efforts, or human resources
• Strengths/weaknesses of the acquisition candidate's major competitors
• Integration challenges and benefits
• Synergies arising from acquired products, intellectual property, capabilities, or customer base.
• Impact of a potential acquisition on a client's competitive position and brand recognition
• Existence/attractiveness of alternative acquisition targets or potential add-on acquisitions.
• Other aspects of verifying the assumptions incorporated in the target's business strategy and projected financial performance.