Groupe Open completes the right acquisition in a few weeks

The challenge: finding an acquisition target with real technical expertise

In IT and digital services, external growth meets a very concrete need: scarce skills, such as Cloud expertise, are slow to recruit and even slower to train. Buying a company that already masters a technology brings in a team, client references and proven know-how in one go. This is the logic of a methodical external growth and buy-and-build strategy: each acquisition must strengthen a specific building block of the group's offering, not simply add revenue.

For a group like Open, the difficulty was not a lack of potential candidates but identifying them. Conventional databases describe companies by their business activity code or a handful of keywords, which say little about their real expertise: two IT services companies can do radically different work. A highly specialised company can therefore remain invisible to a buyer searching only with standard filters. What is more, the best targets are generally not for sale, which makes access to off-market business sales, based on identification and direct approach, essential.

Mid-sized companies with high technological value present another challenge: their value rests largely on a few key people and on the quality of their client relationships. You therefore need to be able to assess an acquisition target across its value chain — skills, clients, technology partners, organisation — even before the first meeting. This analysis makes it possible to quickly rule out companies whose expertise is mostly on display and to focus on those that will bring genuine added value.

Finally, a group carrying out several transactions must preserve its capacity to execute. Each new company acquisition draws on senior management, the finance and legal teams, and then the managers in charge of integration. Entrusting sourcing and the first approach to a specialist partner allows management to focus on strategic decisions and on genuinely qualified targets. The group thus gains speed without lowering its standards.

The solution: AI-powered identification of acquisition targets

“Our strategy
includes the targeted acquisition
of mid-sized companies
with strategic value”

“This process enabled us to find
a very interesting company
that was a perfect fit
for our criteria”

“Technology expertise in the Cloud (...) was absolutely strategic for us, as we have signed many contracts in this sector and our needs are growing exponentially”

“I really appreciated working
with Collaboration Capital”

The project followed the steps of our DEAL Diamond method, which combines AI and analysts. The criteria provided by the client are translated into a precise description of the company sought, then the AI analyses the language used by thousands of companies to bring out those whose business genuinely matches. Our analysts then check each lead, eliminate false positives and rank the targets by relevance.

This semantic approach makes the difference when the expertise sought is highly specialised. Where a keyword search returns every company that mentions the Cloud, language analysis distinguishes those that have made it their core business from those that mention it in passing. The same tools power Dealsphere, our M&A deal sourcing platform, which connects buyers, sellers and dealmakers. The client stays in control at every stage and approves the list of targets before any approach is made.

The first approach to the target's owner is made by our team, confidentially and without revealing the buyer's identity until interest has been confirmed. This trusted third party allows the owner to think things over without pressure and avoids any leak to their staff or clients. Once a positive response has been obtained, the direct introduction takes place in an atmosphere of trust that has already been established, which makes the subsequent discussions easier. The buyer can then focus their time on owners who are genuinely open to a discussion.

After the introduction, the transaction follows the standard acquisition path. The valuation of the target using several methods must take into account the recurrence of contracts, dependence on a few clients and the role of key people. The letter of intent, followed by legal, financial and technical due diligence, secures the transaction: our page on the LOI, due diligence and the warranty and indemnity agreement (garantie d'actif et de passif) details these steps.

In a services company, retaining the teams after the sale is a success factor in its own right. Keeping the owner on during a transition period, an earn-out linked to results or involving key managers in the group's project are all levers to negotiate upfront. When the buyer wishes to optimise the structure of the transaction, LBO, MBO or OBO acquisition finance can be presented to our club of qualified funders.

Integration is prepared from the negotiation stage onwards: aligning commercial offerings, communicating with the target's clients, bringing together internal tools and project management practices. For a services group, the aim is to let the clients of both entities benefit quickly from the new expertise, without disrupting the teams in place. Our M&A and financing client references reflect this attention to the post-closing phase, on which the value creation expected from the transaction depends.

This case illustrates a successful targeted acquisition completed in a few weeks, based on a precise brief. Other companies have benefited from the same method, as shown by the Lindab external growth case study and that of Ekpyrosis, which tripled its acquisition meetings. To define your own criteria and start identifying targets, you can contact us about an external growth project.