Private Equity

Our client was a private equity investment fund who were making an acquisition offer for a UK wealth management business.

The wealth management business had previously undertaken a strategic review of its business with a recommendation to update legacy technology and outsource operations.

Our client engaged Solve to undertake due diligence on the target firm with a focus on transformation roadmap, operations and systems, and the separation agreement between the target firm and its parent company.

We were asked to validate the target model against current constraints, confirm that the benefits and expected outcomes were realistic, that the budget and any contingency was sufficient and that the separation agreement was appropriate with sufficient protections.

We split the review into several sections:

• Current State – review of the current operating model and key risks and issues impacting the business
• Strategy & Transformation Solution – review of strategic goals, target operating model design, vendor selection process, proposed solutions and alternative options
• Transformation Roadmap – highlight gaps requiring development, implementation risks and validation of approach
• Time & Cost – review of costs, business benefits, overrun impact and budget contingency
• Separation Agreement – review of agreement across all shared services, impact of transformation and budget.

We delivered, and presented, a detailed report highlighting red-flags and proposed mitigations, key areas of focus, items for further review and future opportunities.

The engagement was time sensitive as due diligence needed to be completed before an offer could be made.  We engaged with the private equity fund on a regular basis to keep them up to date with progress and to notify them periodically of key findings.

The acquisition went ahead and terms were accepted.  Solve has since been selected by the acquired business to provide external assurance during the lifetime of its transformation programme via a series of independent reviews and regular Steering Committee attendance.

The engagement with the private equity fund was delivered in time and on budget.