Scale Up through Corp Dev

How can GenAI help with Corporate Development Activities within Finance

Corp Dev is not a function that is very commonly considered a role in the Finance Org. However, increasingly as companies are becoming more market and product sensitive and are looking to expand its footprint by acquisitions Corp Dev is gaining the limelight as a critical function.

Gen AI can play a significant role in enhancing corporate development activities within finance by providing data-driven insights, automating processes, and improving decision-making.

• Market and Competitive Analysis: With the advent of so much data available, Gen AI can aggregate vast amounts of market data and perform complex analyses to identify trends, opportunities, and competitive threats. It can also predict certain market risks and shifts and eventually identify the potential opportunities for growth and acquisitions.
• Deal Sourcing and Evaluation: Based on the criteria defined, AI algorithms can scan and identify potential acquisition targets that align with strategic goals. Due diligence can also be expedited and automated for analysing financial statements, legal documents, publicly available information or any other critical information to assess the viability or risks of potential deals.
• Valuation and Financial Modeling: As we have seen in the earlier newsletters, Gen AI can develop sophisticated financial models to estimate the value of companies, considering various scenarios and assumptions. It can quickly generate and evaluate multiple financial scenarios to assist in decision-making. The more we use these modeling techniques the better the tool becomes in understanding the different scenarios and learnings in order to support the corp dev teams in providing insights on the various results and assumptions. This exercise also speeds up the decision making process especially in instances where there maybe multiple bidders for the deal.
• Risk Management: GenAI can identify potential risks in deals and suggest mitigation strategies, enhancing overall risk management. It also helps in ensuring the right compliance and regulatory requirements by automating the monitoring and reporting processes. On the market risks side, GenAI can help companies identify the market behavior and preferences and also help in gauging investor sentiments. This helps companies be better prepared for the potential risks in the acquisition.
• Strategic Planning & Integration: Through the business intelligence GenAI can be leveraged to provide the insights into the existing operational performance of a company and post integration the projected future financial performance. This helps tremendously in the strategic planning aspect of expanding the business, and making the key decisions related to products and customers.

By leveraging Gen AI in these ways, companies can enhance their corporate development efforts, making more informed decisions, optimizing processes, and ultimately driving greater growth and value creation.