Transactional Due Diligence

Transactional Due Diligence. Those are some of the craziest words that I love because it means that you’re either about to get an investment, you’re about to invest in a new and exciting company (or an existing company of course) that you’re either with a sell your business or buy a business. And those are always exciting times. 

So, how can I assist? Well, as part of Due Diligence, I frequently prepare opinions or share opinions verbally with a client. So, for example, you might be interested in learning what Trademarks could be a threat to the brand naming and slogan using of a company that you’re acquiring or investing in. Something else I do is portfolio assessment. So, I can look at both, you know, branding associated with products that are being sold and look at their packaging and marketing for example for names, brands, and slogans that are eligible for Trademark Registration. And then, I can also look at what has been registered and does the use of those marks support the registrations themselves? Additionally, is proper notice being used around the marks on the packaging and in the literature that the company is using to sell their products and services? These are factors that weigh in to the strength of a Trademark Portfolio and that goes straight to the value of the portfolio. 

And so, typically what I’ll do when working on valuation is work with the assistance of somebody from the accounting world — just by way of background, I have a Finance Degree and MBA and I’ve done assistive evaluations for organizations like the Securities and Exchange Commission.  And so, I’m familiar with the process and how valuing intellectual property is important in the Due Diligence of a Transaction.

I can also be the 2nd set of eyes, so I can provide a big strategic overview of the transaction again from an intellectual property perspective and just make sure that you don’t get struck by the “unknowns” that can be problematic in any transaction. And last but not least, although I did not write it up here, in fact it might even be the most important — I can draft documents related to intellectual property as part of the Due Diligence Process. 

 So, frequently in Due Diligence, we’ll discover that a Trademark is registered but it’s not properly assigned; and so, we can prepare the proper assignments, and we can prepare the proper recording of the assignments in the Trademark Office as well as other kinds of intellectual property, but that’s beyond the scope of this video. 

So, if you’re going through Due Diligence or think you are soon, Congratulations! Be in touch and I look forward to strategizing with you.