Vital steps to optimising the deal

Due diligence steps must be addressed with great care, warn leading business advisers

Due diligence in the acquisition process can help buyers to mitigate risks, optimise valuations and ensure compliance. Picture: iStock

There is a natural tension to M&A transactions. On the one side, the seller wants to maximise the price they achieve for their business while on the other the buyer naturally wants to get the best value possible from the deal. But it is not a simple question of haggling over the price and splitting the difference between vendor and purchaser expectations, it’s a lot more complicated than that.

“In an environment where financing a deal is more expensive than ever, and there is wider macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainty it is increasingly challenging to deliver value from M&A,” says Ray Egan, a director with PwC Ireland Corporate Finance.