CVL Think | Plan | Do

The Background

BT Corporate Development instructed CVL to undertake due diligence on dabs.com, a UK based e-tail business it was interested in acquiring for the following reasons:
- To gain access to its customer base
- To utilise its sales infrastructure
- To provide access to its e-commerce   engine.  

CVL was required to undertake technical due diligence and technical clarification of the business case synergies.

“BT commissioned CVL to undertake technology due diligence for a significant e-commerce retail acquisition. The work involved both a full review of the front-end website / back-end systems and a technical assessment of the key revenue and cost synergies on which the acquisition business case was built. The output provided was both detailed and relevant, proving to be instrumental in our understanding of the target's systems and our ability to derive synergy benefits from it”.
Mark Tschudin, Senior Manager, BT.
 

The CVL Solution

CVL undertook on-site visits at dabs.com to interview staff and gain a view of how the business was managed. By reviewing background documentation, CVL highlighted potential issues that the target may not be willing to discuss. CVL managed BT staff through a work-shop process of defining and confirming synergy opportunities and highlighted potential issues (both soft and hard) that needed to be rectified by BT.

The Benefits

CVL presented BT with a full understanding of the technical side of the business and a prioritised list of changes that BT needed to undertake post-purchase. CVL also highlighted both short-term and long-term solutions that BT would need to implement in order to achieve cost and revenue synergies.