Video transcript: Driving value through transactions

Transcript

Tim Allen: Deals are important events, these are moments that matter. There's a lot at stake, you need to get them right.

Suzanne Ellis: We're seeing a whole mixture of motivations.

Farah Al-Sader: Data analytics will give a deal the best chance of success.

Tim: Stakeholders are typically more and more impatient. Getting ahead of the market is really important. We're seeing clients saying, “The business may be growing, but we don't have time to wait for that to come through. We need to accelerate that change. We need to make an acquisition, which is going to turbocharge that growth.”

Suzanne: In the healthcare sector, where I specialise, a number of our clients are actually looking forward as far as, say, 2035 and what the healthcare landscape might look like there. Working back from that in terms of systems, process, technologies, capabilities in their workforce and so on.

Tim: Time really matters, to be able to get ahead of your competition. And this is where technology can come in and play a key role.

Suzanne: One of the things that I've seen has become increasingly strong for us as a firm is our data analytics, AI capability.

Farah: Our clients are under a lot of pressure to get speed to insight, but it's not just about the speed to insight, it's about the depth and breadth of insight that we can provide within data analytics. We're not just data scientists, we're not just the technicians. What we bring to the table is commercial mindset with the technical and data ability.

Suzanne: We're seeing clients really looking at their portfolios, divesting assets that are non-core to them, and then reinvesting whether that's to grow capabilities, move into adjacencies or ensure they’re strategically fit for the future.

Tim: We have a thousand professionals who are all aligned not only to an industry, but to a sector and down into subsectors. So we have the expertise to really understand that client's current sector but also, where they’re going into.

Farah: We have people who've spent decades looking at specific sectors so they know the ins and outs, and then we can go to clients and help them at every stage of a transaction.

Tim: We then also know the breadth of experts from across the firm that we need to bring in, whether that's tax expertise or employment law or technology to unlock the value in the deal.

Suzanne: As we're working with deals in adjacent sectors, it's so valuable for us to be able to just walk down the corridor and work with our colleagues in the consumer and the retail sector, the insurance sector and the industrial sector. And I think that's because we're seeing more integration across the health ecosystem now.

Tim: We're experts in transacting, but now greater than half of our people are focused on that post deal element. How do you realise the value from your transaction?

Farah: Getting under the skin of the company's performance and helping them answer those key questions is what really, really excites me.

Tim: We work alongside a buyer and the management team to take that value creation plan and put it into reality, and PwC go through that entire lifecycle to make sure the deal is a success and the value is realised.

Farah: I love problem solving, I love a challenge and I love the pace of deals.

Tim: There's no bigger kick that you get when a deal goes well. In five years time, you're looking back at that deal and saying: “Look at all of the value that we've created. Look at the opportunities that we created for the people in that business.” And that is what's really rewarding.