Vervaunt, one of the UK's leading paid media and ecommerce consultancies, was acquired by IDHL in November 2025.
We had been working closely with the team prior to the process, and during the transaction took on responsibility for coordinating due diligence — consolidating information, managing requests, and maintaining structure as the volume increased. That meant we weren’t just responding to due diligence, we were shaping it.
The result: A clean process, no material surprises, and a deal that closed on the original terms. That’s rarer than it should be.
The challenge
Selling a high-growth agency creates unqiue points of friction that have the potential to derail a deal – and with Vervaunt, that was no different:
- Two businesses in one
Paid Media and Ecommerce Consultancy needed to be presented as distinct operational and financial models. - Leadership bandwidth
The same people driving growth were the ones being pulled into DD. Left unmanaged, that’s how business performance can drop mid-process. - Protecting IP
Years of internal process and know-how had to be documented, communicated, and protected – without overexposing it.
Individually, none of these are unusual. In combination, they have the capacity to create drag – so need careful management.
Approach
Our approach was to get ahead of the DD before it officially began. The focus was on removing avoidable friction early, and maintaining consistency throughout.
1. Pre-DD gap analysis & housekeeping
Months before the official kickoff, we consolidated documentation into centralised workstreams, identifying and plugging any gaps in employment contracts, client MSAs, and financial trailing data.
This meant that on day one, we were able to add high-quality, verified information to the data room. This dramatically reduced the need for reactive work once the DD process got underway, where delays typically occur.
2. A single point of coordination
We acted as a conduit between Vervaunt’s internal team and the external advisors. By filtering and consolidating requests, we:
- Eliminated duplication of effort.
- Ensured consistent messaging across all workstreams.
- Prevented scope creep.
3. Simple, consistent communication
We implemented a dual-track communication cadence:
- Asynchronous: A dedicated Slack environment for real-time, granular troubleshooting with the Vervaunt team.
- Synchronous: High-level internal and external stakeholder calls to resolve bottlenecks and escalate deal-breaker queries immediately.
The aim was to keep momentum steady and avoid bottlenecks.\
The Outcome: A seamless exit
The deal successfully closed in November 2025.
- No price chipping: no material issues uncovered
- Business kept performing: leadership stayed focused on running it, without being pulled into DD
- Clean handover: no loose ends dragging into integration
"Alongside have had a huge impact on Vervaunt. I would strongly recommend to anyone looking for support in scaling and improving any area of ops and commercial planning."
— Paul Rogers, MD, Vervaunt
Lessons learned: The 6 month rule
The difficulty of due diligence is often overstated. The timing of it is not.
When preparation starts too late, the process becomes reactive and disruptive. When it starts early, it becomes largely administrative.
A useful rule: Assume you need to be ready around six months before you expect to be.
It won’t remove all friction, but it will keep it controlled – and significantly reduce the risk of delays or renegotiation.
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