CVL Think | Plan | Do

The Background

                                                        

BT Expedite sells a range of retail solutions to major players throughout the UK. However, the business has traditionally lacked an online eCommerce offering for its customers. In order to build this capability quickly, Expedite decided to pursue an acquisition strategy.

The key target identified by Expedite was Fresca, a UK based eCommerce Software as a Service Provider (SaaS), which had a number of fashion retail customers.

The integration of Fresca’s eCommerce offering with BT Expedite’s traditional retail-based solutions could enable Expedite to support and grow its market share in the retail sector.

“CVL was extremely professional in its approach to due diligence, undertaking an extensive review of the target under really tight time pressures. I'd thoroughly recommend CVL for future M&A projects.”
Mark Tschudin, BT Expedite

               

The CVL Solution

CVL was engaged to undertake the technical due diligence to support the evaluation of the prospective acquisition. This focused on three key areas:

Existing Hygiene Factors – is the existing business fit for purpose?

Future Expansion Factors – is the technical infrastructure capable of achieving growth on the scale proposed by Expedite? Is the organisation capable of growing to support business goals?

Integration Factors – what are the key issues that need to be considered as part of the integration into the Expedite organisation?

CVL gathered the required information through documentation, interviews with the senior technical and delivery management staff and client reference calls with Habitat, Moss Bros & Harvey Nichols.

In parallel CVL worked closely with the Expedite team to understand their business strategy and to define the key requirements for future expansion and integration.

The Benefits

CVL’s extensive experience in the retail eCommerce space provided an excellent basis on which to undertake the due diligence. The team was able to provide a very detailed report on Fresca within an extremely tight timeframe. More importantly, the output also played a key role in the strategic decision on how to integrate the businesses.
 
Outputs also included a costed IT roadmap for meeting growth targets and a clear statement of the key man risks, which supported contract and commercial negotiations.