M&A of licensed companies
Buying or selling a licensed company, including regulatory due diligence and change-of-control filings.
Acquiring a licensed company can be an alternative to applying from scratch, but only if the licence, the controls and the history behind it hold up. We support buyers with regulatory due diligence and sellers with preparing the company for sale, and we handle the change-of-control approval that most regulators require before completion.
What you get
- Buy-side regulatory due diligence
- Review of the licence scope, conditions, regulatory correspondence, policies, key persons and compliance history, with a findings report.
- Sell-side preparation
- Organisation of the data room and remediation of gaps a buyer's diligence would find.
- Change-of-control filings
- Preparation of the acquirer's notification and supporting documents for regulator approval of the new qualifying holders.
- Business plan update
- Revised business plan and projections reflecting the new owners' intentions, where the regulator requires them.
- Post-completion changes
- Updates to governance, key persons and policies after the transaction closes.
How it runs
- Step 1Target assessmentWe check whether the target's licence actually covers what the buyer intends to do.
- Step 2Due diligenceWe review the regulatory file and report issues, ranked by how they affect value and approval.
- Step 3Regulator approvalWe prepare and file the change-of-control submission and handle regulator questions.
- Step 4IntegrationWe implement the governance and policy changes that follow completion.
Questions we get
Is buying a licensed company faster than applying?
Not necessarily. Most regulators must approve a new controller before completion, and that review can take as long as a new application. The benefit depends on the target and the jurisdiction.
What are the common problems found in due diligence?
A licence scope narrower than the buyer assumed, key persons who will leave on sale, and policies that exist on paper but are not followed in practice.