ABSTRACT
A very large US acquirer commissioned Commercial Due Diligence (CDD) on a small, entrepreneurial British company that supplies equipment to the major British supermarkets. The owner was a typical founder/entrepreneur. CDD is normally carried out, like all due diligence, when the acquirer has a clear run at the target. CDD advisers cannot be expected to turn in a half-decent job unless they know what is going on. If the potential acquisition has been properly researched and the rationale for its purchase evaluated, a fairly logical set of due diligence issues should fall into place. CDD is not particularly difficult, but it does require a healthy slug of streetwise detective work and a lot of judgement. People who carry out CDD are generally different, so do not expect CDD team members to be out of advisers' central casting. But however eccentric some of them may be, they are human beings.
