Introducing our new partnership with Astley Advisors: delivering integrated, high impact CDD & AI/product/tech DD to the UK lower mid-market

We are delighted to announce that, in partnership with the team at Astley Advisors, we now offer a full suite of integrated commercial due diligence (CDD) and AI/product/tech due diligence (PDD/TDD) that assesses investor’s major concerns over AI. 

AI’s impact is increasingly sector agnostic, cutting across vertical-specific software, technology, business, financial and even blue-collar services. As such, investors are asking about the potential impact of AI on virtually every asset we are asked to look at, and they are asking the question at the start of their reviews of potential opportunities, not just later in the process.    

What can we do to help?

• Initial AI screen at the pre-exclusivity/bidding (Round 1) stage. Provides an inside-out view of the market that the target operates in, the product suite that it offers, and the likely impacts (both positive and negative) of AI. Facilitates a broad go/no-go for your Investment Committee, while highlighting value creation opportunities and risks to factor into capital valuation.  
• Integrated CDD and PDD/TDD at the exclusivity stage. A combined commercial and product/technology due diligence delivered as one seamless report. The technical assessment becomes a value creation lever alongside the commercial analysis rather than a separate tick-box exercise.

The team at Astley Advisors have delivered hundreds of PDD/TDD reports during their careers at both Intuitus and Endava, and in real-world industry fulfilling CTO roles. Whilst at Armstrong, we have successfully delivered hundreds of CDD reports that have supported transactions across our core sectors and contributed to post-deal value-creation. Together, this means we can now offer you a combined approach that answers the big, strategic questions, generates value-creation strategies to enhance capital values, and truly identifies and joins together the commercial and AI/product/Tech risks. This thorough assessment will allow you to confidently bid on an asset, fully understanding both the potential returns and risks. 

What are some of the key questions that we can address for you? 

• Is the core customer need changing as a result of AI? 
• Could AI enable new competitors or substitutes? 
• What competitive moats protect the business from AI-driven disruption? 
• Where can AI drive meaningful efficiency or cost advantage? 
• What is the AI roadmap and are there clear use cases across the business or customer base? 
• Does the business own proprietary data or have a regulatory advantage that limits AI driven commoditisation, replication or displacement? 

We have already worked on a range of assets using this combined approach. Contact us for more details. 

Peter Cookson

pcookson@armstrong-ts.com
+44 7871 425 467

Adrian Astley Jones

aastleyjones@armstrong-ts.com
+44 7432 087 187

Anjali Obhrai

aobhrai@armstrong-ts.com
+44 7909 094 604