Financial due diligence

Financial due diligence is a comprehensive and investigative process aiming to assess a company’s financial strengths by examining its financial data, which may include historical sales, expenses and working capital, as well as key assumptions used in management’s forecast. The aim of financial due diligence is to help investors see if the deal is worthwhile and have a better understanding of the potential risks and opportunities before signing on the dotted line.

Financial due diligence is typically carried out before mergers and acquisitions. Other circumstances that warrant financial due diligence may include when a company looks to get additional funding or when it is in dispute with another organisation.

Legal due diligence

Legal due diligence reviews legal risks that exist in a company, stemming from its organisation structure to contracts that it has with its suppliers, clients, partners and also employees. In addition, how the upcoming deal is structured may also have legal implications.

Common areas that our legal due diligence team reviews include:

• Ownership of a company (share certificates issued to board members, directors or key stakeholders)
• Management structures
• Company procedures
• Legal obligations such as loans
• Ongoing litigation, if any

Human resource due diligence

Human resource due diligence assesses the risks and opportunities pertaining to the employment structure of a company. It usually includes HR operations, employment contracts, grade and salary bands, leave policies, benefits, as well as any on-going disciplinary cases. The aim is to understand the company culture of a target company and see how it can facilitate a smooth transition.

International due diligence

This form of due diligence is vital to companies that already have operations in numerous countries and legal jurisdictions or are planning to go international. International due diligence is the process of acquiring and analysing local information not publicly available outside of the location. At Trademark Nova, we have helped companies to obtain:

• Verification of a foreign business partner or client
• Political situations in another country
• Local economic landscape
• Potential risks pertaining to local illegal activity and/or corruption
• Other local issues

Over many years, we’ve developed a network of trusted intelligence experts in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, including in countries which the UK government and the European Union would classify as ‘high risk’. The list of high-risk countries changes from time to time, but essentially they are countries said to be vulnerable to corruption, support money-laundering schemes, or even have regimes that are linked to terrorism financing. If your organisation has rushed to invest in one of these countries, you or your company may become a victim of the country’s distinctive political systems or policies. This is why companies turn to our international due diligence team first. We are here to help you verify a foreign company’s legitimacy and undisclosed facts, along with the business environment in that particular country.