The situation
An acquisition target’s teaser, filed accounts and name
The CFO of a packaging group in Graz has two teasers on her desk: a corrugated-board plant near Łódź and a label printer in Nitra. The board wants to know which to pursue before the group spends money on advisors. She has the information memoranda, three years of filed accounts and one week.
Nobody needs a full due diligence yet. What she needs is a screening: is each company what the teaser says, are there public red flags, and which legal questions will decide the price. The hours go on pulling public information from two countries and writing a summary the board can decide on.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Registers show the basics
- The Polish and Slovak commercial registers show a company’s form, registered capital, who represents it and, for limited companies, its shareholders. They show what was filed, not whether it is still accurate.
- Read the filed accounts against the teaser
- Limited companies in both countries file annual financial statements with a public register. Comparing them with the teaser’s figures is the first test of the story.
- Insolvency and tax status first
- Both countries publish insolvency proceedings, and both make some taxpayer information public, such as Poland’s list of VAT taxpayers. A hit at this stage changes the conversation.
- Clearances can set the timetable
- Depending on turnover, the deal may need merger control clearance in Poland, Slovakia or at EU level, and foreign-investment screening may apply. The research confirms whether the thresholds are met once the figures are known.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Austrian group screening two targets: a Polish sp. z o.o. making corrugated board and a Slovak s.r.o. printing labels. From the attached teasers and filed accounts, what are the red flags, do the public sources show insolvency or tax issues, and would either deal need merger clearance?
You start with
An acquisition target’s teaser, filed accounts and name
- 01
Run the company checks
Check both targets for status, insolvency and tax-debt flags, as far as each country’s public sources allow.
Due diligence· Pro - 02
Upload the teasers and accounts
Add the information memoranda and the filed accounts. azta reads them and refers back to the figure or passage behind each point.
File upload· Pro - 03
Research the deal questions
Ask about merger control, foreign-investment screening and the transfer formalities for each target. azta cites the national and EU rules.
Cited research· Free - 04
Write the screening summary
Ask for a two-page summary per target: what checks out, red flags, open questions and the cost of finding out. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
An in-house screening summary for the board
What you get
An in-house screening summary for the board
Screening summary · draft
Two targets: screening summary for the board
Łódź plant. The register matches the teaser. The filed accounts show revenue in line with the teaser but a sharp fall in margin last year that the teaser does not mention. No insolvency or tax flags were found. Open question: the plant’s environmental permits.
Nitra label printer. The register shows a change of managing director three months ago and a pledge over the shares. The latest accounts have not yet been filed. These points need answers before the group goes further.
Recommendation. On the public information, the Łódź plant is the cleaner target. We suggest engaging advisors for it, with the margin fall and the permits as the first questions.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
13 minutes a month
At €130 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 43
- Capacity at your rate
- €5,616
- More target screenings a quarter
- 1.5
- Return on Pro
- 17.3×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The commercial judgement on fit and price.
- Conversations with the seller and its advisors.
- The recommendation to the board.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this a substitute for due diligence?
- No. It is a first screening from public sources and the seller’s documents, to decide whether to spend on a full due diligence.
- What does the company check cover?
- Status, insolvency and tax-debt flags, as far as each country’s public sources allow.
- Are the seller’s documents kept confidential?
- Uploaded documents are never used for training on any plan and stay in the EU/EEA.
