A leading player in media industry decided to put a global market research firm for sale. David acted on behalf of a prospective purchaser, to assess the quantum and delivery risk in cost reduction programmes in its baseline business plan, and the costs and issues involved in separating and carving out the subsidiary from the parent group.
David’s team assessed and analysed material provided by the vendor, identifying issues and risks. These analyses were then used in meetings with management to obtain their perspective and views on the controls and mitigations that they had in place. A large proportion of the saving was driven by plans to use offshoring labour for market research data collection and data analysis work, to lower the cost to serve European, US and Japanese markets. David used his knowledge of offshore markets and costs to assess the assumptions made in projections and provide a view on risk.
Although the subsidiary was largely autonomous within the group, there were some separation issues to mitigate. David ensured that proper consideration and budget was included in plans for the one off and ongoing costs of separation, by providing challenge to management’s assumptions and ensuring an appropriate degree of rigour was used in assessing plans.
David’s work reduced risk for the prospective vendor, by ensuring a clear understanding of risk in current cost saving projections and ensuring clear provision for separation was made in financial and action plans.