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Vendor assistance

What is vendor assistance?

Increasingly, on large M&A transactions, our clients are demanding a wider range of services from their advisers to support the disposal process. Deloitte has developed a separate Vendor Assistance service in order to provide a comprehensive offering to mitigate potential impediments to sale whilst de-risking and shortening the transaction process. It can be either a precursor or instead of a vendor due diligence, depending upon the specific circumstances of the transaction.

Vendor Assistance is the provision of any combination of a number of value add services, including:

  • Accounting advisory services
  • Carve out
  • Data room support
  • Operational and commercial reviews
  • Pensions and vendor assistance
  • Project management
  • Risk review
  • Sale and purchase agreement advice
  • Tax vendor assistance
  • Vendor modelling

What are the benefits?

The aim of Vendor Assistance is to provide ongoing support to a company that is considering the sale of all or part of its business. We are able to provide support in all areas to:

  • Assess whether or not the business or business units are ready for separation and divestment, following an initial diagnostic.
  • Identify the major areas where separation activity is required.
  • Understand the applicability of existing or past plans for proposed separation.
  • Work with the vendor to establish and execute a carefully coordinated operational carve out plan.
  • Provide assistance to prepare standalone financial information for the carved out business, including tax and pensions information, that is robust and fit for a sale purpose in terms of audited carve out financials, vendor due diligence, data room and valuation model.
  • Keep control over the timetable at all stages of the project, including due diligence if vendor due diligence is undertaken.
  • Advice on best practice during a disposal process e.g. restrictions on communications with potential purchasers.
  • Provide hands on support through all stages of the sale process, including bidder meetings, advice on the sale and purchase agreement and completion accounts.