Financial Due Diligence
Financial diligence is more than a checklist — it is the foundation for informed dealmaking.
Sponsors, corporate acquirers, lenders, sellers preparing for exit — on transactions in the DACH–Greater China deal corridor.
Buy-side and sell-side diligence — earnings, working capital, debt-like, cash flow.
The work, line by line.
Quality of earnings
EBITDA bridge, normalization, sustainability, run-rate exits.
Working capital analysis
Peg recommendation, seasonality, target NWC for closing.
Debt and debt-like items
Off-balance-sheet exposures, cash equivalents, contingent obligations.
Revenue and customer review
Concentration, retention, churn, cohort behavior, contractual flow.
Cash flow and capex
Conversion ratios, growth versus maintenance capex, seasonality.
Cross-border lens
FX exposure, transfer-pricing texture, jurisdiction-specific accounting differences across DACH and Greater China.
Information memorandum critique
Sell-side reads of the IM with documented findings memo.
What separates the work.
- 01
Senior diligence partners
Henrik leads every diligence engagement personally. There are no handoffs to junior staff once fieldwork begins.
- 02
Two-office staffing
Every cross-border diligence runs simultaneously through Frankfurt and Hong Kong. The buy-side perspective is built in, not bolted on.
- 03
Defensible numbers
Findings traceable to source data; we defend our work in negotiation rooms and audit committees on both sides of the corridor.
- 04
Discretion as discipline
We do not publish client names. Engagement references are available on request, under NDA.
Active categories along the corridor.
- Industrials & Manufacturing
- Technology, Media & Telecom
- Consumer & Retail
- Healthcare & Life Sciences
- Business & Professional Services
From scoping to deliverable.
- 013–5 days
Scoping
Workstream definition, materiality thresholds, information requests; agreed in writing before kickoff.
- 024–6 weeks
Field work
Data analysis, management meetings, working sessions with the deal team across both offices.
- 031–2 weeks
Findings
Findings memo, redline of the IM, deal-team alignment on go/no-go items.
- 041 week
Deliverable
Final report, executive summary, working capital and net-debt schedules.
Founding partners leading the work.
Reading from the team.
- Practitioner Note
Why QoE Reports Are Getting Longer (And What That Means for Sellers)
A practitioner's note on the inflation of QoE scope, what it tells you about cross-border buyers, and how DACH sellers should respond when preparing for a process with Asian counterparties.
By Henrik Bergmann6 min read - Quarterly Update
Q1 2026 DACH–Greater China Crest
Quarterly read on cross-border deal flow between DACH and Greater China — pricing, volume, sector mix, and the indicators we watch for the next three quarters.
By Stefan Knaus8 min read
What clients usually ask before kickoff.
Most cross-border DACH–Greater China FDDs run 7–10 weeks from kickoff to final report, with critical findings flagged in the first 10 business days. Carve-outs and complex multi-jurisdictional structures can extend to 12 weeks.
Yes. Roughly a third of our FDD engagements are sell-side vendor diligence, prepared 8–12 weeks before going to market. Vendor FDDs reduce buy-side surprises and shorten exclusivity timelines on cross-border processes.
Materially. Beyond standard FDD content, our reports address FX exposure, transfer-pricing texture between DACH and Asian operating entities, and jurisdiction-specific accounting differences (HGB vs IFRS, HKFRS, China GAAP) that surface in the working-capital and net-debt sections.
Yes. Meridian Crest is an independent advisory firm with no audit practice. There are no audit-independence restrictions on the work we can undertake.
Discuss this FDD engagement.
We respond within one business day.
A founding partner reads every inbound. References available on request, under NDA.