| Consideration | Standalone business | Under new ownership |
|---|---|---|
| Customers | Assess concentration, contract terms and renewal behavior in the existing customer base. | Establish whether customer access changes after completion and what is required to sell across the combined businesses. |
| Capabilities | Identify the people, licenses and operating capabilities on which current revenue depends. | Examine whether the ownership change or integration could disrupt those capabilities or relationships. |
| Revenue growth | Test the target’s growth assumptions against its market position and current commercial capacity. | Specify which additional revenue depends on a new channel, offer or customer relationship, and who must build it. |
| Operating cost | Establish the cost of serving the business as it operates today. | Connect each saving to an operating change and include the cost, disruption and time required to make it. |
| Management attention | Understand the work required to maintain current performance. | Assess whether the same people can also carry the proposed integration and growth commitments. |
An acquisition case can combine earnings the target already produces with gains that require substantial work after completion. Keep those sources of value separate until the commercial evidence and operating requirements of each have been examined.
Scroll sideways to compare all columns.
What makes the asset valuable to this buyer?
Customer access, a capability or an established market position can each support an investment thesis. They require different evidence. State the reason for ownership precisely enough that the diligence work can test it.
Where information is limited, identify the affected assumption and show how uncertainty changes the case. Keep it visible in the assessment rather than allowing it to become an unqualified forecast.
Give every synergy an operating explanation
Assign an action, owner and timetable to each material source of value. Check whether a saving depends on changes that could reduce service, put revenue at risk or remove an essential capability. Integration priorities should protect the investment case, including activities that need to remain independent until their operating implications are understood.
A combined valuation should be traceable to the target’s standalone performance and the additional actions required from its new owner.
General commercial information. Advice on a particular business, transaction or jurisdiction requires a separate assessment.
Related serviceTransactions & integration