When investment banks advise a buyer (acquirer) on a potential acquisition, they also often help to perform what’s called due diligence to minimize risk and exposure to an acquiring company, and focuses on a target’s true financial picture.
Due diligence basically involves gathering, analyzing and interpreting the target’s financial information, analyzing historical and projected financial results, evaluating potential synergies and assessing operations to identify opportunities and areas of concern.
Thorough due diligence enhances the probability of success by providing risk-based investigative analysis and other intelligence that helps a buyer identify risks – and benefits – throughout the transaction.