Value creation services

S&W supports buyers and sellers to identify and quantify the operational risks of a business and associated mitigating costs to protect value, as well as potential value upsides related to people, technology or key business processes. This forms the groundwork for post-deal value realisation and protection through risk mitigation.

Our approach to value creation complements our financial due diligence offering. We recognise that businesses must go beyond simply identifying operational risks and value opportunities during pre-deal due diligence. It is critical to plan how value will be realised and to execute on effective post-deal planning, ensuring risks are mitigated and value is delivered successfully.

Increasingly, businesses are exploring how to maximise value and build operational resilience against future challenges. Whether your businesses’ goal is to reduce operating costs, unlock the full potential of your workforce, reshape your operating model or expand into new geographies, beginning with a mindset focused on creating value is imperative.

Examples of transaction scenarios where clients typically seek value creation support include:

• Lack of insights into the operational performance and efficiency of a business, including relevant operational KPIs
• Limited views on improvements to key business processes to enhance operational agility, performance and resilience
• Insufficient understanding of whether operations and technology can be scaled quickly and efficiently to support increased business volumes or leveraged to optimise costs and profitability
• Insufficient knowledge and data to quantify key operational value levers, including their costs
• Limited insights on operational, technology or cyber security issues that impact performance and profitability, or require capital investment to protect value
• Lack of management experience or time to plan or execute separation or integration programmes at pace, including identifying separation costs or transitional services agreements, or planning and realising synergies

Our value creation team has over 20 years of global experience in supporting private equity firms and corporates across sectors, financial services , fintech and real estate. We maintain a laser-like focus on your needs, while acting as a trusted adviser every step of the way through the deal.

We have structured methodologies based on cumulative best practice, providing a range of different services to clients:

• Operational due diligence
• Value creation through cost reductions (and revenue upsides)
• Operational performance and efficiency improvements
• Technology due diligence (including cyber security and data)
• Separation vendor assistance (complementing our VDD offering)
• Carve out planning and execution (including TSAs)
• Day 1 planning and post-merger integration
• Synergy assessments (cost and revenue)
• Working capital reviews
• Value impact assessment and monitoring