Growing a healthcare business needs a more commercial approach than support from 'number crunchers'

Working with the right advisers who have the ability to draw out hidden risks associated with sustainable earnings, taxation, and operational aspects, when performing due diligence assignments can save you time and money in the longer term.

Making a successful acquisition

As a care business choosing to grow by acquisition, purchasers can often encouter frustrations that could be alleviated through working with experienced advisers in the healthcare sector.

Due diligence can be perceived as a time-consuming process but provides vital confirmation of the key financial aspects on which a bid is based.

Effective due diligence can offer clarity around sustainable earnings and, therefore, potential impact on price, as well as identifying key risk areas. The process should also produce a sound base from which to plan the post-deal integration strategy.

Questions purchasers often find themselves asking are:

How much should I pay for this care business?

Our in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry allows us to focus on key risk areas and identify issues quickly.

Valuations in the healthcare sector are typically based on a multiple of earnings that can vary dependent on size, locations, potential for growth and expansion, quality of management team, freehold/leasehold.

We pride ourselves on obtaining an in-depth understanding of target businesses, not only from a financial perspective but also the commercial, operational and legal aspects which allow us to provide a holistic view of the business.

Are these profit expectations realistic?

Profitability can often be overstated by sellers, leading to renegotiations around enterprise value. We provide analysis and explanations to help sellers understand our views where they differ so that sensible discussions can be held. These can be particularly useful with inexperienced vendors, smaller businesses, and non-commercial sellers or advisers.

Could this transaction move more quickly?

We often need to move quickly once a transaction is underway; our large, dedicated transaction support team allows us to do this and deliver to tight timescales.

We assist vendors with information collation to aid the efficiency and speed of the process, and facilitate meetings and calls with accountants and advisers to keep momentum throughout.

Any potential red flags are raised at the earliest opportunity and regular communication throughout the process means there are no surprises in the final professional report that we provide – this approach saves cost and time both for buyer and seller.

Do I have any support when the deal is done?

Management teams can find it difficult to integrate two companies with possibly very different systems and cultures. We advise buyers to think carefully about post-deal integration. Many of our clients continue with the Hazlewoods service post completion to provide post-completion support across outsourcing, accounts, audit, and specialist tax teams.

We also offer support with the prepartion or review of completion accounts to ensure any final adjustment(s) to the consideration are reflected.