Guiding a clinical trial software company through a multibillion-dollar exit

Our Impact 

West Monroe helps our clients on the sell-side of a transaction tell the story of their complex technologies, owning the narrative to create maximum value. The ability to tell this story can only be achieved through deep industry and practical software experience. In this case, our client needed to ensure its company’s narrative emphasized its current and potential worth. Previous work with West Monroe demonstrated our team’s focus on narrative, coaching, and multidisciplinary expertise—cementing us as the ideal choice in the minds of our client’s leadership team.  

We delivered more value by going beyond simple facts and figures. We coached the client’s leadership team in preparation for the buy-side process. Without the right messaging, the complex and large portfolio of products could be seen as a risk to uninformed buyers. We also helped them tell crucial narratives supporting the industry and competitive landscape, ultimately making them a more compelling acquisition. 

The Full Story 

The Challenge 

During sell side preparation, our client believed the financial value of its software suite could increase its valuation—but was concerned that an uninformed buyer might view their broad product catalog as a risk. In fact, the broad product catalog was a conscious decision, derived from the suite of complimentary traditional services supported by the software products. Without a deep understanding of the evolution of their platform, a buyer could view this broad catalog as an indicator of lack of integration, increased overhead, and uncaptured value through consolidation. Getting prospective buyers to see the same value the client would require a strong narrative and preparation. That’s when they called West Monroe to help prepare documentation to convey its value to potential buyers.  

West Monroe provided leadership coaching our client needed to be ready. We also provided continued support for reporting and narrative building to ensure new data and feedback were integrated into their documentation.  

An Undeniably Different Approach 

Without the right partner, our client knew they’d leave money on the table with their sale. West Monroe had the approach they were looking for. Our multi-year history with the client uniquely positioned us to tell their technology story—having been involved in the original diligence for their prior owner’s acquisition as well as each subsequent add-on diligence. Our extensive working relationship with our client coming into this project—such as performing diligence and being a strategic advisor to several of their add-on acquisitions—gave us unique insights into their technology growth and value creation efforts.  

This relationship aided us in prioritizing key narratives. We were able to develop a report that anticipated possible diligence questions while highlighting the potential growth and value opportunities. 

The reports also needed to present a comprehensive picture of our client’s business to satisfy diligence teams and prospective buyers. To build a compelling report, we partnered with a multidisciplinary team from mergers and acquisitions, healthcare and life sciences, and technology. The combined expertise enhanced the report with the following: 

• Healthcare and life sciences industry practitioner expertise enabled us to demonstrate how our client’s technology: compares with competitors in the market and ecosystem; positions the R&D roadmap and spend appropriately; and brings value to stakeholders in the clinical trial processes 

• Technology expertise helped us assess the technical aspects of the product design and corresponding software development efforts, as well as highlight areas of potential value erosion (e.g., Cybersecurity Risk) for the client to preempt 

• Industry benchmarks and code scans helped reinforce the story with data-driven, factual metrics 

• M&A and sell-side advisory expertise to build a compelling story for our client’s business strategy and vision, combining the technical and life sciences functional details into a cohesive story of growth and potential 

Real Results 

Proactive preparation leads to compelling results. West Monroe’s M&A sell-side advisory helped our client develop vital capabilities and resources. Through management coaching, we trained their leadership team to focus on areas of interest with prospective buyers. 

Additionally, since documentation anticipated many diligence questions, the team had more time to focus on the buy-side process—allowing them to better position for the sale. We also helped them reduce buy-side management overhead, allowing them to support multiple potential buyers more effectively. These benefits made them more capable during the buying process and provided them with a larger pool of buyers, leading them to a multibillion-dollar exit.