Step in the Acquisition Process:

Corresponding Acquisition MarketPlace Resources:

Formulation of strategy, goals and criteria.

PDQ Deal Reviewer guides you through the steps of setting acquisition criteria and identifying and weighing the relative importance of pre-defined value drivers.

Staffing, delegation/limitation of authority and allocation of resources for the M&A "department."

All of the tools contained MoneySoft’s Acquisition MarketPlace will help to equip your M&A Department—whether it is informal or formal.

Our Virtual Data Room can provide a centralized portal for the dissemination and control of information in a secure fashion inside or outside your organization.

Our Select Publications List provides a number of expert-based books on M&A, Valuation, and Corporate Development to stimulate thinking, develop superior strategies and increase your personal knowledge.

Development of deal opportunities (deal flow).

The acquisition criteria and ranking of value drivers that is prepared in PDQ Deal Reviewer can be shared with I-Bankers and Intermediaries to help them develop “targeted” deal flow. The same criteria can provide direction to in-house deal cultivation.

MoneySoft can help you develop contact and mailing lists of acquisition candidates that meet your basic criteria for industry, size and geography through an affiliation with infoUSA.  Call or email us for a free proposal.

Initial screening of presented opportunities (opportunity triage).

Acquisition criteria and the relative importance of value drivers are compared to a target based on limited financial inputs in PDQ Deal Reviewer to screen deals.

Detailed analysis, valuation and evaluation of the target company.

Buy-Out Plan and DealSense Plus allow you to adjust and analyze financial statement data, prepare detailed pre-acquisition projections, value the target, and determine price/structure/deal terms that make economic sense based upon Free Cash Flow Return on Investment.

RMA Annual Statement Studies and Integra 5-Year Industry Data provide data for financial statement comparison and benchmarking.

Done Deals contains transaction details on almost 7,500 mid-sized transactions for valuation and pricing purposes.

Mergerstat Control Premiums & Industry P/Es provide P/E ratios, control premiums, industry composites and thumbnails to support valuation and pricing decisions.

BIZCOMPS Small Business Studies provides transaction details for small business valuation and pricing.

IBISWorld Reports provide exhaustive industry data and are available through MoneySoft.

MoneySoft Analysis & Evaluation Services are available when you need to outsource the analysis prepared by DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan.

Commencement of post-deal integration planning.

Business plans, tasking assignments, reports, PowerPoint presentations, news articles, research and other information central to the post-acquisition process can be securely stored and administered in a Virtual Data Room to facilitate communication and planning.

Presentation of initial bid or offer (i.e., letter of intent).

The deal summary and related analysis prepared in DealSense Plus and Buy-Out Plan provides a starting point preparing a letter of intent or purchase offer.

Negotiation of purchase price and deal terms.

As negotiations between buyer and seller unfold, you can use DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan to evaluate the economic impact of proposals and counter-proposals in order to negotiate from a position of informed strength.

Formal due diligence review.

The analytics contained in DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan can be used to develop questions for digging deeper into the performance and position of the target company.  Models can also be updated as new data surfaces.

You can organize our Virtual Data Room according to your due diligence checklist and require the target to upload the documents for review by your management team.

Negotiation of contracts and documents needed to effectuate a closing.

Our Virtual Data Room provides a centralized and secure repository of draft contracts and documents for easy access by authorized parties and improved version tracking to accelerate communication and workflow.

To the extent that contract negotiation are dependent or influence the “numbers,” the model created in DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan can be updated to test the economic viability or ability to comply with the proposed or negotiated terms.

Placement of necessary funding.

DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan include a variety of funding instruments including Revolvers, Short-Term Notes, Term Debt, Options, Warrants and Equity to create a financial blueprint for the transaction.  The built-in Report Builder allows you to create funding proposals.  As negotiations with funding sources proceed, the model can be updated to evaluate the impact and feasibility of proposed funding terms and financial benchmarks contained in loan agreements.

Business plans, audio/video clips, PowerPoint presentations, news articles and other due diligence information, along with funding memoranda and related documents can be securely stored and administered in a Virtual Data Room.

Approval of the transaction by the appropriate managerial authorities and the board of directors.

DealSense Plus and Buy-Out Plan include on-board Report Builders that prepare board-room quality Acquisition Proposals to inform all-important gatekeepers.

Here again, our Virtual Data Rooms provide a secure and centralized repository of all deal-related documents for access by the appropriate decision makers who may be located anywhere in the world.

The closing with attendant payouts and consents.

Our Virtual Data Room streamlines the closing process by providing a secure and centralized location of all transaction contracts, closing documents and related due diligence items.  The players can access necessary documents according to their clearance level.

Implementation of post-deal integration plan.

The underlying post-acquisition operating assumptions and bottom-line impact developed in DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan can be expanded into the foundation for the post-deal integration plan and used to communicate mission critical assumptions/objectives to appropriate team members.

The Virtual Data Room can control the dissemination of information and encourage a timely feedback loop.

Post-deal review.

The post-acquisition projections and related assumptions prepared in DealSense Plus or Buy-Out Plan serve as a target and benchmark for evaluating the deal.

Re-formulation of strategies, goals and criteria.

Based upon the result of a given acquisition in particular and one’s experience with deals in general, you can use PDQ Deal Reviewer to refine your criteria and acquisition drivers.