Mergers & Acquisitions

Any business that has developed a distinctive advantage for its products or services has limited time to establish its competitive position before other market participants respond. Carefully planned and expertly executed mergers and acquisitions are the proven route to establishing scale and strength in both local and global markets.

IDJ seeks to provide an informed view of the options available to the business owner, Board of Directors and management team, based on current market conditions and outlook. IDJ views mergers and acquisitions as just one part of the strategy for growth that the client is pursuing. The firm always gives the utmost priority to the need of the client to continue successfully to manage its core business in a world of steadily increasing competition.

IDJ has long proven success in representing clients seeking to acquire and those clients deciding to sell businesses. Details of the services provided when buying or selling companies, with examples of the assignments completed, can be found on our Case Studies page above.

Buying Businesses

For companies considering entering a merger or making an acquisition IDJ is able to offer proven expertise and an unusual capability for both market knowledge and transaction specific skills in assisting buyers. A transaction expert is assigned to every engagement to execute a project defined precisely to meet the objectives of the client and the realistic expectations developed with an IDJ corporate finance specialist.

Listed companies with access to finance from the public markets confront a different set of considerations to those of the owner manager. The requirements of corporate governance and stock market regulations must be harmonised with the need to act efficiently, optimising the use of scarce management resources. The key considerations of maintaining strategic focus and growth in long term shareholder value are the defining parameters for every listed company, buy side transaction.

The purchase of an additional business by an owner manager requires a careful assessment of the financing that will be needed and the demands to be placed on management, both during the acquisition process and once the purchase is completed. To an owner manager, the risks to be taken are often matters critical to the continued successful conduct of a business that is the product of the work of an entire career.

IDJ is itself an owner managed firm, in the tradition of the investment banking partnerships that have offered the finest professional services for many generations. For an owner manager, cost effective work is an especially critical requirement, given that equity finance is less readily available than for a listed company

Selling Businesses

The decision to dispose of a significant product, business or company is a critical step for shareholders and Boards of Directors. Successfully executed, a strategic sale can add liquidity to the sellers' balance sheet, focus to the operations retained and strengthen the competitiveness of the business that remains.

IDJ brings to the sale process the experience of a wide variety of sales for both owner managers and listed companies. From helping refine the strategy for the sale; preparing and issuing the information memorandum; developing the candidate list of prospective purchasers and their advisers; IDJ develops a unique strategy for each sale transaction.

For a listed company, the sale process can permit sales of strategic stakes or partnership agreements, in ways that can be exceptionally difficult for owner managed companies. IDJ helps develop the criteria for the sale and whether the transaction should be for the entire equity or in some other form, then implements the chosen strategy in a disciplined professional manner.

IDJ regards the sale of an owner managed business as fundamentally different to the sale of a listed company or one of its businesses. There are two common circumstances that arise with owner managed sales. First is when the sale is to obtain scale and added resources, where it is the intention that the former owner will remain with the business and continue its growth. Second is when the sale is intended to be as part of an imminent or immediate retirement.