Client: European IT Company
Service: Commercial Due Diligence, M&A Intelligence
Geography: United States
Problem & Objective
Our client was holding discussions with a mid-sized, privately held software company based in the US about a possible acquisition. The client got wind of a rumour that several key senior executives were planning to leave the company to set up a competitor. Intelligentsia was asked to investigate whether the rumour was true or false.
Research Challenge
In the US new company registrations are made at state or local levels; there is no national database of company incorporations. This made it challenging to check whether any of the senior executives had registered a company.
The Resolution
Intelligentsia’s US researchers researched the senior executives’ state and local registries for registrations in the executives or their spouses’ names. Nothing was found.
We spoke to some senior personnel at the software company which revealed that the idea of setting up a competitor had been the subject of “water cooler conversations” but had not been taken further.
The Result
Intelligentsia’s M&A Intelligence Report reported that the idea of setting up a competitor had been discussed, but we had found no evidence that any senior executive was planning to do this. Our client was reassured and completed the acquisition.
