Operational Diligence

Anticipate the play

As a leading M&A service provider for many of the top private equity firms and strategic buyers and sellers, Deloitte offers decades of operational diligence experience, deep functional knowledge, global resources, and effective diligence practices. Our Operational Diligence professionals can assist clients with critically evaluating a target’s attractiveness through operational assessments and risk mitigation strategies. We link these findings to deal value for informed transaction decision-making, negotiations, and eventual strategic and financial value realization.
 
We work closely with our other M&A practices, such as M&A Strategy and Commercial Diligence, to provide insights at each stage of the M&A life cycle. We also leverage the audit, financial advisory, risk management, and tax services of Deloitte’s network of practitioners to bring the targeted resources to our operational diligence engagements.

Operational Diligence services

Buy-side and sell-side diligence: We analyze key findings of the diligence process to identify financial and cost implications of the deal, including potential risks and opportunities.

Integration planning, synergy identification, and risk assessment: We develop synergy and timing estimates to align with the integration approach and timeline, and we conduct risk assessments and upfront integration planning to identify potential integration pitfalls.

Operational, functional synergy deep dive and validation: When a client conducts its own diligence, we can perform a deep-dive analysis of its team’s results and, based on agreed-to parameters and our previous client engagements, test and validate them.

Diligence program management and execution: We can help a client establish an operational diligence approach, deliverables, and checklists that align with the client’s priority focus areas based on the deal vision and rationale.

Potential bottom-line benefits

• Leverage effective diligence approaches, processes, and checklists that guide diligence efforts and summarize key findings for client leadership and key stakeholders.
• Evaluate and summarize relevant findings, including operational risks, financial and operational implications, and mitigation strategies.
• Gain access to deep functional, global knowledge and experience needed to perform detailed analysis and supplement core diligence teams.
• Leverage an initial view of the integration strategy to align value drivers and understand cost implications.