Intro
it’s absolutely critical for buyside teams to move with speed and confidence on decisions about which deals to pursue. Traditionally, buyers have had to navigate due diligence manually, using inefficient processes. These lead to lost time, incomplete analysis or missed red flags. This not only affects the buyside. Delays in a deal due to human oversight and inefficient processes slow down the deal considerably for the sell-side as well. These delays can have a domino effect, as slower due diligence can potentially impact the valuation of the deal.
Some of the challenges with the traditional approach to doing a Due Diligence are:
The seller’s information in the VDR rarely aligns with the buyer’s due diligence check-list, or request list.
Key information is often miscategorized or missing entirely.
Traditionally, buyers have had to navigate due diligence using inefficient processes like manually cross-referencing files in the data room against their check-list, and relying on email and phone calls to assign check-list items and check progress, which can lead to wasted time, incomplete analysis or even lost deals.
Our Approach using: Specialists + Technology
Our resident technologists, transaction specialists, project managers and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology tools (DealVision by Intralinks) work alongside your buy-side team in conducting the due diligence. The AI tool (DealVision by Intralinks) managed along by our team of specialists do the heavy lifting, whilst your team focus on developing and implementing the best strategy and structure following our expertly conducted sourcing and analysis of required files from the due diligence room.
The Specialists
Our Due Diligence specialist team consist of:
Our technologists: They set-up our Artificial Intelligence platform using our check-list or a high-breed of your check-list and ours.
Our transaction specialists: They do the heavy lifting of using the AI platform to sift through the files and folders in the data room and generating the red flags and areas of synergy. Note that AI is only as good as the resources utilising it.
Our Project Managers: They use same platform to coordinate Q&A. Time-lines and deliverables from across the subject matter experts and other participants in the due diligence. The result is a well synchronised legal due diligence.
The Technology
Automated content mapping – Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled automated content classification maps the contents in the seller’s VDR to your due diligence check-list – saving the time typically allocated to manual classification and review of this information set.
AI-driven gap analysis – Highlights missing information.
Activity dashboard – The due diligence process manager now has real-time visibility into the team’s evaluation progress.
Consolidated findings and Q&A – Rather than rely on ad hoc methods of collecting feedback and key findings and questions from the deal team, managers now have these updates at their fingertips in a secure, centralized hub
Conclusion
Knowing that there is an offering in the market specifically designed to streamline the due diligence phase, how comfortable do you feel about continuing to rely on manual buy-side processes that are prone to human error?
MLS (Managed Legal Services) - The preferred choice for Legal Due Diligence
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Before
Currently, buy-side teams spend a significant amount of time trying to understand whether the information the seller has posted in the VDR matches their key requirements. In most cases, a check-list is created, and each member of the due diligence deal team is manually assigned their own item on the check-list. They are tasked with thoroughly examining the details in their assigned area and reporting on whether the information is complete, categorized properly and satisfies their company’s needs.
The next step sees each member of the team cataloguing their findings, usually in Excel, and emailing the project manager about their progress. The manager must trust that the team member has performed their full due diligence and not missed anything in their assigned area. The manager must then gather the same information from each member of the team in the same ad hoc manner, relying on Excel and emails. Several check-ins on progress may be necessary. This process results in a lot of back and forth, overwhelming your in-box and causing version-control issues in Excel.
Upon receiving the findings from each team member, the individual leading the deal must then analyse the results manually and identify areas of vulnerability.
All the while, the sell-side is anxiously awaiting word from the team to see if the deal can progress.
After
With MLS, our specialist team and AI platform quickly organize deal documents, manage the deal team’s due diligence evaluation efforts, and identify key findings early in the process. The offering introduces several key innovations to help buyers:
l Save time typically allocated to manually classifying and reviewing information with our artificial intelligence-enabled automated content mapping solution. This feature maps the contents in the seller’s VDR to the buyer’s due diligence check-list.
l Gain real-time visibility into the progress of the evaluation team. Managers no longer have to chase down their team members for progress reports.
l Consolidate the deal team’s findings rather than rely on ad hoc and unsecure methods of collecting feedback. Managers now have these updates at their fingertips in a secure, centralized hub.
Our offering has been specifically built for participants on the buy-side of a transaction - designed to match actual work-flow needs and provide transparency into the dealteam’s activity in real time. We are committed to supporting dealmakers everywhere – and on each side of the deal – with the most technologically advanced tools and the best resources to empower valuable, data-driven results.