Corporate finance sell-side advisory
Keeping you in the driving seat of the sales process, we can help you create persuasive communications materials, select potential (trade and/or financial) buyers and ensure potential issues are identified and solved as quickly as possible, thereby minimising disruption to your day-to-day business. Our flexible approach is tailored to meet the precise requirements of your business, and we work alongside you guiding and supporting the sale until its completion.
Bringing parties together face-to-face early on helps create familiarity and trust, offering everyone comfort in the process.
As part of an international network, we bring deep industry knowledge and sector expertise, combined with close contact with the local and international private equity community and buyer network, but remain your single point of contact throughout the process.
Vendor financial & tax due diligence/vendor assistance
Taking an independent view of your business, we help create a valid picture of the business you’re looking to sell, including from a tax perspective. Undertaking vendor due diligence enables you to identify and fix critical issues that could lead to buyer uncertainty, and reduce the possible disruption or price adjustment a change of ownership could cause. It can also help you stay in control of the sales process and manage its pace.
By fixing identified financial and tax concerns, it can help you reduce time required to finalise the deal as everything is complete from the get-go. Importantly, vendor financial and tax due diligence adds credibility to you as a vendor. Vendor assistance is provided for the benefit of the vendor only.
Ready-for-sale structure
When selling (part of) your business, it is important to have the target "ready for sale" from a tax perspective e.g. structure the assets / business to be carved-out, regulations of tax issues to be performed, etc. We can help you prepare the sales process as much tax efficient/neutral as possible.
Company valuation
In considering a company’s value, we take a pragmatic approach tailored to its specific characteristics, especially size, geography and business operations. By understanding the business and industry sector it’s in, linking its operations and strategy, we discover the story behind the value and are able to apply relevant methodologies to offer a reliable valuation.
With a large team of dedicated valuation experts in Belgium, we have the resources and knowhow to address all aspects and find tactical solutions, at a rapid pace. Our sector expertise and experience, enables us to position solutions appropriately for your specific industry.
Business planning
We can help you build a robust business plan that not only makes your asset more attract to prospective buyers, but helps secure its future. Devising a strong business plan means looking beyond business profitability. We analyse historical financial and operational key performance indicators (KPIs) and forecast future performance by linking the projected operational KPIs to the market.
We always look at the complete set of financial statements (P&L, balance sheet, cash flows) to provide a helicopter view of the company.
Calling on our substantial experience and expertise with different industries, we understand sector differentiators and can create a plan in line with historical performance and the market. We also incorporate due diligence insights and in-house knowledge to create a customised plan specific to the asset you’re looking to sell.
Operational due diligence
We offer an independent view of your operations to make sure you’re able to provide a comprehensive overview of the asset’s operational structure linked to its financials.
Taking an integrated approach, we look back at where numbers come from to help identify potential opportunities for the buyer or private equity investor, creating a fully integrated report comprising all relevant details.
Carve-out readiness
We work with you to understand your strategic priorities, help you identify what systems and processes will need to be separated when the asset is sold and offer advice and guidance on how they can best be split as soon as possible after the deal has been signed.
Overall, we help you prepare the asset to be sold to perform as a stand-alone business going forward.
Commercial due diligence
We’ll help you assess key strategic and commercial aspects across all stages of the deal cycle. When we assist in selling a business we provide insights on how to maximise value prior to a sale, so you can pursue the best deal opportunities with confidence while giving buyers greater certainty about the nature and potential of your business.
We use data analytics, quantitative surveys and interviews with industry specialists and customers to assess market conditions, customer perceptions and the company’s performance.
Going public / IPO advisory
Turning your privately-owned company into a publicly-traded company requires significant effort to avoid the many potential pitfalls that come with the responsibility of transitioning to life as a public entity. While market timing is outside your control, preparation is not.
We can help your organisation plan and implement the complex route to becoming a public company.
Tax structuring
We can help you make sure that future net cash flows are optimised through tax structuring. Tax structuring sooner rather than later can add significant value to any transaction.
It’s essential to minimise after tax acquisition and financing costs, including both the actual transaction tax costs and the long-term sustainable tax rate following the transaction.
People and Organisation due diligence
In selling a business, it’s important to be able to identify and communicate true staff costs, in terms of both direct employment costs, like salaries, as well as potentially more hidden costs, such as staff turnover, absenteeism, age of population and more, all of which can have a significant financial impact.
We take a holistic approach, helping assess the impact of employment laws, benefits including pensions, HR practices, organisation, compensation packages and overall HR function of your concern.
Contact us
Partner, Deals - Transactions & Private Equity Lead, PwC Belgium
Tel: +32 477 27 07 50
Peter Opsomer
Partner, Deals - ESG and Delivering Deals Value, PwC Belgium
Tel: +32 475 55 16 70
