We consider the research phase of an M&A transaction to be more of an Art than Science.

Our philosophy and preference are heavily biased towards identifying off-market transactions, the justification being that businesses actively being marketed for sale may have been misrepresented by a selling agent or the owners misguided as to the normal conditions, valuations and expectations that go with a mid-market corporate acquisition.

We focus on off-market transactions.

Accordingly, we specialise in identifying and approaching Companies that have not been advertised for sale, but the owners may be interested in and value a discrete discussion with a Corporate Acquiror who is both experienced and funded for such transactions.  At Azoria, we vet our clients as we do their prospective targets before commencing any approaches to ensure they are informed, funded and committed to such a strategy.

As a matter of procedure, we initially seek to understand our client’s business, their rationale for making acquisitions, proposed methods of financing and the size and type of business they want to acquire, before any external research is commenced.  This ensures that our client’s strategy is robust and it assists us, in due course, to explain the interest/approach and motives to prospective Vendors.

Given we focus on off-market transactions, it is not uncommon for us to be in confidential dialogue for several months, if not longer with prospective sellers who may be interested in the approach, but the initial timing may not have been appropriate. It is our view that the investment in developing a long-term relationship with both buyer and seller is key to ensuring that the opportunity/transaction has the maximum chance of completion and successful post-transaction integration.

Azoria Consulting uses sophisticated IT and Financial research tools to identify suitable acquisition targets for clients, as well as using our Directors’ and Consultants’ wide network of corporate finance contacts.

An experienced research team with unrivalled knowledge.

We have an experienced team of researchers who analyse financial reports, industry reviews and other sector data to assess each potential opportunity based exclusively on the considered acquisition profile as identified by our client.  The work and, ultimately, identification of suitable targets is based on a mixture of financial assessment, judgement and knowledge gained from current and past transactions together with our understanding of our client’s strategy.