A multinational group, one of the largest in Europe, covering several industries experienced a weakness in their technical security offerings in Sweden. The decision was to try to acquire a company that could fill the gap.
Ablona was assigned to help out with the analysis and drive the process. Together with the Swedish management, we developed a 'blueprint' of the ideal candidate with the foundation in our analysis model, HULO Core™. Based on this 'blueprint', Ablona researched and contacted prospective targets, made a scoring against the 'blueprint', drove the 'pipeline', lead discussions and supported the eventual negotiations with targets.
Refining the 'pipeline' and presenting a palette with acquisition targets deepened the understanding of opportunities and challenges in the acquisition decision. A continued dialogue with a select final group even more.
Eventually a specialist company, about 3 m€ in turnover, was acquired. Ablona also acted as the project leader in the due diligence process and wrote the report presented to the group acquisition board. Later, another company from the final target group was acquired.
Lesson learned: Being proactive as an acquirer usually gives you a twofold advantage. Firstly, you do the selection out of comparison with what's available. Secondly, there is a opportunity to be able to pay a price without competition of the 'target'. Using external consultants strongly helps in both aspects!