FM Analysis

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CTOs, CIOs and IT Directors, who understand the real-world challenges and who themselves have had Board responsibility for IT and technology strategy, leadership and delivery. Their technical expertise is matched by strong sector and commercial awareness and this enables an incisiveness that is well-suited to short due diligence engagements. We recognise that the relevant expertise and credibility of our consultants are of paramount importance to our clients as significant decisions with potentially far-reaching consequences will be influenced by their findings and recommendations.

We usually start each engagement by reviewing relevant documentation, which may or may not be in a data room. Where the process allows we then spend time on site, meeting the IT team and key business users, including Board representatives. If relevant it might be appropriate to walk around a manufacturing site or to visit one or two local branches to see business processes in action and we may ask for a short demonstration of core business systems. We may also ask to speak with key third party IT service providers. At this point we would convene an interim briefing with our client to provide initial feedback. We then report and debrief more fully. This process is designed to enable us to triangulate and properly substantiate our findings and recommendations. Where it is appropriate to do so, we also liaise with other due diligence streams, typically the commercial, financial and legal advisers, to cross-check our findings and ensure a consistency of response.

Our engagement process is built around five key commitments:

• We respond rapidly to a client’s requirements.

• We work with the client, and guide the client if required, to construct a deal-specific scope of work.

• We deploy consultants with expertise in both the technical and market environments of the investee company.

• We are objective and open-minded in our assessments and pragmatic in our recommendations.

• We deliver an expert, commercially-focused report that can be relied upon, that succinctly captures our findings in a language that makes sense and, where appropriate, that can be acted upon by the management team post-completion.

The real strength of the Intuitus model is our management team’s understanding of transaction- based due diligence, how to conduct qualitative, pragmatic assessments and how to interpret the commercial implications of our technical findings, allied with the technical, sector and commercial expertise of our real-world consultants.

Q

If you are able to do so, please detail any significant clients/cases undertaken by your firm in the past year.

Our recent due diligence work includes assessments of the IT or technology operations of the following companies:

• Explore Learning, a provider of after-school tuition for primary school children, for an investment by Graphite Capital.

• CloserStill, a business-to-business exhibition organiser, for Phoenix Equity Partners.

• Metronet, a provider of hybrid wireless and fibre Internet services, for LDC.

• SecureData Europe, a specialist IT security provider, for August Equity.

• Molinare TV and Film, a post-production business for TV and film, for Next Wave Partners.

• BigHand, a developer of digital dictation workflow systems, for Bridgepoint Development Capital.

• IESA, an integrated solutions provider for the outsourced procurement, stores management and payment of MRO goods transactions, fo Gresham.

Calum Stewart Managing Director Mobile: +44 (0)7887 521016 Email: calum.stewart@intuitus.co.uk Website: www.intuitus.co.uk

• Just-Eat, an online marketplace that allows consumers to order take-away food for home delivery from a broad range of restaurants, for Vitruvian Partners.

• Audley Travel, a provider of luxury, tailor-made holidays, for Equistone.

With regards to M&A, Intuitus advised Karma Communications Group, a creative agency, on its acquisition of Crayon, a data and digital marketing services provider. More recently, we advised Direct Group, an insurance solutions provider, on its acquisition of Simple Landlords Insurance, and several other transactions that remain in progress. On the sell-side Intuitus recently supported Marston, the UK’s largest provider of judicial services, during a process that resulted in an investment by Inflexion.

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