Search and analysis of acquisition targets in Russia (Buy-side M&A)

The Client is a Finnish-Swedish design engineering company (at present a part of AF Pöyry). It is an internationally acclaimed expert in the field of industrial, energy and infrastructure design engineering. As part of the effort to expand their business in Russia, the Client contracted Investorium to identify and analyze fast-growing companies of the matching profile which could be of interest as acquisition targets or as business partners in a strategic partnership.

This assignment can serve as a classical example of a Buy-side M&A project that typically involves acquisition target search, selection and comparative analyses, collection and review of business and financial information, short-listing potential acquisition targets and providing the Client with the short-listed companies’ profiles and recommendations concerning acquisition priorities.

Based on the selection criteria preliminary agreed upon by the Client, the Investorium team searched the industry for the players that match the selection criteria and could be considered as targets for acquisition or a strategic partnership. Investorium compiled a long-list of about 20 companies and conducted a comprehensive analysis of each of them by looking at their portfolio of services, competitive position, financial performance, and, ultimately, their potential as acquisition targets or prospective strategic partners.

The result of the work was a comprehensive comparative analysis of the longlisted companies against a broad range of selection and comparison criteria. Based on such an analysis, Investorium provided the Client with the short list of companies ranked in terms of the maximum synergy effect to be gained by acquiring such companies or forming a strategic partnership with them.