Transaction Advisory Services
Operational insight across the full deal lifecycle, from diligence through integration and exit.
DEAL CONFIDENCE
See the Operating Reality Behind Every Deal
Due diligence decisions shape transaction outcomes for years. A thin or checklist-driven assessment leaves hidden operational risks, inflated working capital, and inconsistent EBITDA to surface after close, when they are most expensive to fix. Deal teams working against a private equity clock need a read that closes the gap between what a target reports and how it actually runs, and that does it inside a competitive process window.
VDS approaches due diligence through a strategic and operational lens, uncovering the risks, synergies, and value-creation levers buried in a target’s operations and data. Assessments reach past a checklist to a data-driven equity case and an implementation roadmap aligned to the investment thesis, so acquirers price the deal with confidence and enter ownership with a plan already in hand. Private equity firms and corporate acquirers rely on that operating depth across the deal lifecycle to turn a diligence report into realized value.
WHY CHOOSE VDS
Beyond the Standard Transaction Advisory Partner
Most advisory firms assess a target, model the upside, and hand the deal team a report. VDS goes further, embedding with management before and after close and staying accountable as findings turn into results. Backed by decades of hands-on operating leadership and proprietary frameworks like the Manufacturing Diagnostic® and the Value Driven Approach®, VDS reads a target quickly, quantifies its entitlement with rigor, and translates diligence into measurable EBITDA impact inside the hold period.
Read Like an Owner
VDS diligence teams are industry veterans with 20 to 30 years running manufacturing, supply chain, and industrial operations. They read a shop floor, a production schedule, and a supplier base the way an owner does, so the risks and upside a spreadsheet cannot show surface early, while there is still room to price them into the deal.
Proprietary Diagnostic Precision
The Manufacturing Diagnostic® and the Value Driven Approach® benchmark operating performance against achievable entitlement and quantify the improvement levers behind the thesis. Acquirers receive a clear, evidence-based read on value potential across the enterprise, delivered on a deal timeline.
From Findings to Results
Through 360° Client Alignment®, the operators who assess a target can deploy into it after close, from analyst to COO. Diligence findings become an execution plan, and the VDS Business System® installs the discipline that holds the gains through the next owner’s diligence.
WHAT WE COVER
Integrated Diligence and Integration, End to End
VDS supports buyouts, bolt-ons, carve-outs, and divestitures with a fully integrated set of transaction services. Operations, technology, regulatory, and ESG diligence run under one roof, giving acquirers a single coordinated view of risk and value across the target. After close, the same teams lead integration and synergy capture. Each service below has a dedicated page: explore the one that fits the deal in front of you, or talk to a specialist about a combined scope.
Operational Due Diligence
A rapid, structured read on how well a target runs: capacity, throughput, quality, supply chain, cost structure, and the margin between current and achievable performance. Powered by the Manufacturing Diagnostic®, it quantifies the operational upside behind the investment thesis.
Technology Due Diligence
An assessment of how well a target is enabled by its systems and infrastructure, and the technology investment the thesis will require, spanning ERP, applications, data, automation, and cyber risk. Informed by the Digital Transformation practice.
Food Safety Due Diligence
Regulatory and food-safety diligence for deals across food, beverage, and processing sectors, evaluating compliance posture, quality systems, and the remediation investment needed to protect brand and enterprise value.
Post-Merger Integration
A structured approach that turns the diligence plan into realized revenue and cost synergies, with clear ownership, disciplined sequencing, and continuity for the running business.
Sell-Side Assessments
Independent, third-party validation of a company’s value-creation potential ahead of a sale, so owners enter the process exit-ready and can defend the operational upside to prospective buyers.
ESG Due Diligence
A review of ESG programs, processes, and metrics against recognized benchmarks, so acquirers weigh ESG risk and opportunity as part of the full value-creation picture.
ACROSS THE DEAL LIFECYCLE
From Deal Sourcing to Exit, Value You Can Defend
VDS supports investors and acquirers across the investment lifecycle, from deal sourcing and due diligence through portfolio value creation and exit planning. Every stage is built to move at deal speed and to keep paying off long after close, protecting capital, sharpening the thesis, and leaving the business stronger for its next owner.
Risk Surfaced Early
Operational, technology, regulatory, and ESG exposures identified while there is still room to price them into the deal or adjust the structure.
Value Quantified
A benchmarked read on entitlement and the improvement levers behind the thesis, expressed in the EBITDA and working-capital terms a deal committee uses.
A Plan You Can Own
Findings delivered as a prioritized, data-driven equity case and roadmap, sequenced into Quick Wins and Breakthrough Strategies the team can begin executing at once.
Synergies Realized
Post-close execution through 360° Client Alignment® and the VDS Business System®, so projected value becomes captured value.
FAQ – Footprint Optimization
Transaction advisory is the diligence and integration support acquirers and sellers use to de-risk a deal and defend its value. VDS approaches it through a strategic and operational lens, assessing how well a target runs and what it will take to deliver the investment thesis. Because the teams are operators, the read reflects what happens on the floor and across the supply chain, and it reaches past a checklist to a data-driven equity case.
A quality-of-earnings review validates the financial statements. Operational due diligence validates the operation behind them: capacity, throughput, quality, supply chain, and the gap between current and achievable performance. VDS ties the two together, translating operational findings into the financial equity case a deal committee needs.
As early in diligence as possible, ideally before the investment thesis is locked, so operational risk and upside can shape valuation and deal structure. VDS also engages sellers ahead of a process for sell-side assessments, and buyers immediately after close for post-merger integration.
Operational, technology, food safety and regulatory, and ESG, plus post-merger integration and sell-side assessments. Engagements can combine several of these into one coordinated scope. Each has a dedicated page in the section above.
Yes. On the buy side, VDS assesses targets and leads integration. On the sell side, VDS provides independent, third-party validation of value-creation potential, so owners enter a process exit-ready and can defend the operational upside to buyers.
Diligence runs within the compressed windows a competitive process allows. The Manufacturing Diagnostic® works on the principle that a small number of critical issues drive most of the performance gap, which is what lets the team reach a credible, prioritized read quickly.
Findings arrive as a prioritized, ownable roadmap. If the deal proceeds, the same operators can deploy through 360° Client Alignment® to execute it, and the VDS Business System® installs the discipline that sustains the gains through the next owner's diligence.
Yes. VDS is built for the private equity value-creation cycle: fast diligence to inform the thesis, integration and improvement through the hold, and sell-side validation ahead of exit. The Private Equity practice shows how VDS supports firms across a portfolio.
80+
industrial M&A transactions supported for PE and corporate acquirers
$12B+
in aggregate enterprise value assessed across diligence engagements
14days
typical operational diligence turnaround inside competitive processes
22+
countries of operating reach
TRANSACTION-TESTED
Diligence Built on Real Operating Depth
VDS supports private equity firms and corporate acquirers across aerospace, food and beverage, industrial manufacturing, chemicals, and technology. In one engagement, operational diligence for a private equity investor in aftermarket avionics assessed operations, product, market, and risk, and delivered a clear investment recommendation.
LET'S CONNECT
Ready to De-Risk Your Next Deal?
Operational and strategic diligence, built by operators and delivered at deal speed.
Whether the task is pricing a target, planning an integration, or preparing a business for sale, VDS brings the operating depth that turns a transaction into a defensible return. Start the conversation about the deal in front of you and where operational insight can move the outcome.