Case Study
Acquisition
Support
UK’s largest property services group advances through acquisition
Brief
Identify interested acquisition candidates
Our client, the UK’s largest property services group and investor-backed, had ambitious growth plans.
Customer churn was low across the industry and our client’s profit margins were already class-leading. So, management had acknowledged it would have to combine an acquisition programme with organic growth to achieve its target. The client also recognised that it may have to do a series of smaller acquisitions as the industry was so fragmented.
Management did not have the capacity to do the work internally but wanted to ensure that the work was done in a very structured and collaborative fashion. This had been an issue last time they had worked with an external party.
In early 2018, Caden Strategy was retained to identify and engage with potential acquisition candidates.
Approach
Structured and collaborative
We undertook the following steps:
- Developed an industry universe with critical information on every player in the market;
- Derived a target universe by filtering the industry universe using selection criteria agreed with the client;
- Compiled an in-depth profile pack for each target;
- Contacted targets to assess their interest in engaging with our client, and arranged and attended all initial meetings;
- Managed the pricing expectations of potential targets;
- Updated the client on the status of the assignment through bi-weekly calls and a quarterly report.
Outcome
One large deal executed and live discussions with several prospective targets
We invested several weeks up front researching the market and potential targets. Within three months of starting to make contact with companies, we had conducted seven client-target meetings. This was far in excess of the anticipated volume and mostly due to careful preparation and a sensitive approach to targets.
To date, one large acquisition has been executed and discussions with several interested targets are ongoing.