Opportunity Assessment
Situation: major investment bank was considering investing in extending the network of a global fibre optic link company. The proposed expansion would mostly cover the region from the north of Africa to central Asia. But the bank had no way to assess the likely growth in demand for bandwidth or development and technical trends in the long period of time required to calculate a return on such a project.
Approach: Ovum Consulting worked with the banks and the telecom company's team to develop a view on what path development would take. We extended a model developed by our analysts to produce worldwide forecasts and tuned it to the projects specific needs. We produced a most likely scenario and pessimistic /optimistic views on various sensitivities as well as a view on pricing per global route.
These forecasts on demand and pricing were then converted into a cash flow that would allow the investors to calculate returns and risks as well as serving as a powerful negotiating tool.
Expansion Strategy
Situation: A major player in the mobile marketing space asked Ovum to help plan its expansion strategy and growth from Asia and Europe to the Americas. In particular it needed help finding acquisition targets or partners that would be a good strategic fit, provide them with new capabilities or a foothold in a new market.
Approach: Ovum Consulting worked together with a specialised partner firm to provide the client with:
- predictions and material for discussion on the likely development of the market
- case studies that would help identify best/worst practices as well as possible trends
- the profile of companies that we thought should be approached for partnering or acquisition.
In addition the Ovum Consulting team worked with the clients on several open ended discussions on wider issues such as regulation, new technologies and drawing parallels from other industries.
Financial advisory support and due diligence
Situation: a leading Middle East mobile operator required technical and commercial due diligence in relation to a Turkish mobile operator bid.
Approach: Ovum Consulting evaluated the financial performance of the Turkish mobile operator as well as the size of investment. We assessed the subscriber profiles and base and analysed the efficiency of the pricing and marketing strategy, the sales and distribution channels, the customer service as well as the HR and organisational issues. The technical due diligence focussed on the network and the IT operations. We particularly evaluated the likely operational costs involved in properly maintaining and operating the assets and/or the capital expenditures required to improve or replace some of the assets.
Ovum Consulting built the key assumptions for the 5-year business plan and conducted detailed scenario planning to reflect the possible developments in the Turkish market. Our expertise and support provided our client with a deep understanding of the implications of the potential acquisition that led them to the right decisions during the bidding process.
|
