AMR International supports Reed Business Information in the acquisition of Ascend
Deal: Acquisition of Ascend
Client: Reed Business Information
Issue
AMR International conducted commercial due diligence on behalf of Reed Business Information (RBI) for the acquisition of Ascend, a leading provider of values and fleet data, analytics and advisory services to the aviation industry. RBI needed AMR to provide clear and up to date answers on the key commercial issues involved in the acquisition.
Approach
With a deep expertise in the B2B data sector and a proprietary approach centred on in-depth primary research, AMR helped RBI understand the business they were buying, the impacting market factors, the achievability of revenue forecasts and how they could make the business more valuable.
Despite a tight timeframe, AMR International spoke to Ascend’s key customers and conducted in-depth online market surveys. These market and customer –based insights provided a robust basis from which to validate Ascends’s revenue forecasts. AMR also assisted RBI by asking for the right data in the data-room, which clearly demonstrated how our client could make the business more valuable.
Recommendations
Through our in-depth research and analysis AMR illustrated how Ascend had clearly created sustainable value by shifting the provision of bespoke aircraft valuations into a subscription-based product. AMR validated Ascend’s strong and defendable position and helped our client to clearly understand how it could make the business more valuable. AMR concluded that there was a strong fit between RBI and Ascend, with complementary product offerings and customer coverage.
Results
AMR’s detailed insights of the business provided clarity into the must-have quality of the Ascend’s products and key issues concerning its customer base. Our analysis was central in convincing RBI and Flightglobal management that revenue upside potential existed through external and internal levers. As a result, RBI used AMR’s the fact-based findings to make a successful bid for Ascend.
"AMR's work was very important at helping us get comfortable with the commercial issues around the business and is a valuable part of our post-acquisition planning.” Melanie Robson, Publishing Director Flightglobal
For more nformation about our expertise in this area, please contact Sylvain Marpeau-Roussel.