Our client was seeking a suitable strategic partner for distribution agreements in France and Italy. It had identified a French company which also had limited operations in Italy and wished to understand any issues associated with the company and its market standing while also ensuring that no other market players merited consideration before making an approach.

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Our investigations revealed that the company was widely perceived as having failed to meet the challenge of competitive pressures in its core market and had a declining market share. In addition, and more important, it had acquired a reputation for deteriorating quality of service and had forfeited the support and respect of a number of core clients.
 
In the course of our work we identified another market player which had not been taken into account by our client in their original review: a smaller, more entrepreneurial and aggressive French company which was well-perceived, though less well known, and was seen to be effectively expanding its market share. As a result of TRAG’s analysis, our client entered into discussions with the principals of this company and subsequently acquired a controlling interest.