Practice 04 · of eight
Due diligence & background intelligence
Enhanced intelligence for appointments, suppliers, partners, investors and transactions where ordinary database screening is not enough — control, track record and undisclosed exposure.
- Instructed byBoard, investor, lender
- Typical duration5–20 days
- Commercial basisTiered scope
- Tested byIC, lender, auditor
Questions this practice answers
Clients rarely arrive with a service in mind.
- Who actually controls this counterparty?
- Does the stated track record exist?
- What undisclosed litigation or regulatory history is there?
- What would a lender or regulator find later?
What the work involves
Within the ten-stage process.
- Stages 01–03
Scope tier and legality
Tier selected against the decision at stake, with jurisdictional limits recorded.
- Stage 05
Verification
Registry, filings, litigation, media and source enquiries — each claim verified or marked unverified.
- Stage 06
Red-flag grading
Flags are graded by materiality to the transaction, not listed indiscriminately.
- Stage 08
Advisory
What the flags mean for price, conditions or withdrawal — and what further work could establish.
Deliverable
What you receive.
A graded diligence report with a red-flag register, verification status per claim and clearly defined limitations.
- Diligence reportPrimary
- Red-flag registerAnnexure
- Source indexAnnexure
- Registry research
- Beneficial ownership
- Litigation checks
- Media and reputation
- Source enquiries
- OSINT
Limits of this practice
What this work is not.
- No credit assessment or valuation
- No covert approach to the counterparty without instruction
- No unverifiable claim presented as fact
- No guarantee that nothing exists — only what was found
Often combined with
Most matters draw on three or four practices.
Confidential enquiries
Start with the question, not the method.
We assess the concern, lawful purpose and available information before recommending a scope.
Request a confidential consultation