Q&A with a client who was a 5-time buyer, who we also helped exit to one of our other clients:

Did Cogent’s experience help/complement your team and getting the transaction done? “Cogent owned the entire process of the transaction. Our team was able to focus on the core business and let Cogent handle the details of the transactions.”

When it comes to modeling the deal points, what do you think of Cogent’s work product and the process generally? The Cogent financial analysis of candidate companies was far superior to what our in-house team could achieve on their own. The modeling workbook sliced up the financial data into many view- points, allowing me to make decisions with all the information at my fingertips. Deal points were easy to model and create with Cogent’s work product.

Regarding transaction documents; how did Cogent help? Did your counsel appreciate our work product? When it came time to exit, Cogent was imperative to handling the transaction documents and due diligence. There was 212 different pieces of due diligence. Our internal team didn’t have the resources to gather and create all these items. Cogent took over and ran with the entire process. With access to our Connectwise, QuickBooks, and SharePoint it was like having an internal team member dedicated just to this project. They were able to hit deadlines and keep the deal on track.

How has Cogent’s industry expertise complemented your acquisition mandates? M&A is a big space and an M&A generalist will never have the specific knowledge Cogent has with the IT industry. This really matters when it comes to finding candidates, understanding synergies, creating deal points, and then buying companies with a mutually agreeable valuation. This is paramount to finding the right bolt-on company at a fair price for both sides. We did 5 acquisitions and this industry knowledge helped me all the way to my bank account upon exit.

Does Cogent really add value? I can say first hand that they do add value that is easily measured. We did 5 acquisitions and 1 exit with Cogent. I can point to many things, negotiating deal structure, contract language, financial modeling, this kept me from buying the wrong companies, and finding & closing the right companies at a good price. Upon exit Cogent pushed our valuation all the way to the top of industry multiples and negotiated a deal structure that protected me financially and legally.