CASE STUDY
Cerved boosts the speed and accuracy of M&A technical due diligence
Cerved is the market leader for credit risk analysis and the top independent player for credit management in Italy, boasting the largest financial data ecosystem in the country.
CAST Highlight extracts the needed intelligence automatically, without relying on interviews. That helped ensure objectivity and maintain confidentiality while assessing the targets’ software.
The results of the technical due diligence obtained with CAST Highlight often influenced the contractual arrangements with the counterparty and led to the definition of a post-M&A investment plan for placing the new assets in an enterprise setting.
Antonello Mantuano
Sr. Director Solutions Delivery
Less time
spent on technical
due diligence
More facts
for risk assessment,
asset valuation, transition
planning
Challenge
Cerved's growth over the past decade has been fueled by multiple acquisitions of innovative startups in its traditional and adjacent markets.
The framework they used initially, which relied on self assessments and manual documentation, soon proved inadequate for the depth, speed, and accuracy Cerved needed during M&A technical due diligence and transition planning.
It was particularly challenging to gather accurate intelligence about all technologies used, architecture, compliance, data security and technical debt, which intelligence is all key in determining purchase prices and integration costs.
Solution
Cerved began using CAST Highlight to extract the needed intelligence automatically, without relying on interviews. That helped ensure objectivity and maintain confidentiality while assessing the targets’ software for:
- Resiliency, efficiency, security, changeability and complexity
- Technical and functional size
- Third-party legal risks and intellectual property exposures
- Third-party component obsolescence risks
- Cloud readiness and maturity
- Technical debt, i.e., the effort required to adapt the software and resolve the issues identified
Results
Cerved were able to assess the targets’ software in one or two weeks, much faster then before, and without the software ever leaving the premises.
The intelligence provided by CAST Highlight informed deal prices and contractual arrangements, as well as post-M&A investment plans.
Using objective intelligence lowered the risks typically inherent in due diligence process of M&A.
Having an accurate view of technical debt and cloud maturity of the software took transition planning to a whole new level. For example, Cerved now create automatically the Cloud migration and optimization roadmaps for the acquired software.
