Due diligence · Europe–Africa
Know what you are buying, financing or partnering with before you sign, in Europe and in Africa.
Independent financial and commercial due diligence, and cross-border advisory for transactions between Europe and Africa: acquisitions, equity stakes, partnerships, market entry and project financing. Findings are written for decision-makers: what the numbers support, what they do not, and what that means for price, structure and terms.
When clients call us
You are acquiring a company or a stake whose accounts you did not prepare.
A lender or investor wants an independent view before committing capital.
A partner, distributor or joint venture in West or Central Africa reports under SYSCOHADA, not HGB or IFRS.
You are preparing a sale and want the numbers and the data room ready before buyers look.
A publicly or donor-funded programme requires an assessment of a counterparty's financial standing.
What we examine
Quality of earnings
Recurring versus one-off results, normalised EBITDA, revenue recognition and related-party flows.
Cash and working capital
Cash conversion, seasonality and the normal level of working capital that anchors the price mechanism.
Net debt and debt-like items
Financial liabilities, guarantees, provisions and commitments that do not appear on the balance sheet.
Business plan review
Assumptions tested against history, market and capacity; sensitivity of value to the three drivers that matter.
Commercial review
Customer concentration, contract terms, pricing power and the quality of the pipeline.
Governance and controls
Approval rights, reliability of reporting, and red flags on integrity and compliance.
What you receive
Red-flag memo: an early, short list of the issues that could stop or reprice the transaction.
Full report: findings, quantified adjustments, and implications for price, structure, warranties and conditions precedent.
Data request list and question-and-answer log, maintained throughout.
Presentation to the board, investment committee or lender.
How it runs
Scoping and NDA
A first call to define the question, the target and the timetable. A confidentiality agreement before any document changes hands.
Data request
A tailored request list and sessions with the target's management.
Analysis
Work on the data room; red flags are reported as soon as they appear.
Report and presentation
Written findings and a session with the decision-makers.
SYSCOHADA · HGB · IFRS
Two accounting worlds, one reading
Seventeen African states apply OHADA business law and the SYSCOHADA accounting framework. Those accounts do not map one-to-one onto HGB or IFRS: classifications, provisions, leases and the treatment of cash transactions differ. We reconcile SYSCOHADA statements to the framework the decision-maker uses and state plainly where comparability ends.
Cross-border · Europe–Africa
Europe and Africa, read with the same rigour.
For European companies entering African markets, African companies raising capital or finding partners in Europe, and institutions financing projects between the two. One adviser who works in German, French and English, and who knows both what a German lender expects and how business is done in West and East Africa.
Europe–Africa readiness diagnosticBamako and Kigali: where the practice was built. The other points mark principal economic hubs of the corridor.
The corridor in figures
≈ US$70 bn
Foreign direct investment into Africa in 2025, the third-highest level since 1990.
Source: UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2026
€63.4 bn
Germany–Africa trade in goods in 2025, up 10.5 % on 2024.
Source: Germany Trade & Invest, based on Destatis data, February 2026
1.4 bn
People in the African Continental Free Trade Area, with a combined GDP of about US$3.4 trillion.
Source: AfCFTA Secretariat, 2026
17
States applying OHADA business law and the SYSCOHADA accounting framework.
Source: OHADA
Figures as published by the named sources, rounded.
What we do on the corridor
Market entry and partner selection
Market and competitor analysis, due diligence on partners and distributors, choice of entry structure, and a business case built on local costs, currency and repatriation constraints.
Project financing files
Financing plans and documentation prepared for banks, development finance institutions and export credit cover.
African companies facing European capital
Conversion of SYSCOHADA reporting to IFRS or HGB, investor materials, and the governance European investors and lenders expect.
Institutions and programmes
Programme budgets, donor reporting and cross-border compliance for embassies, public bodies and international organisations.
Why one adviser for both sides
Languages
German, English and French, plus Bambara. Documents are read in the original, not in translation.
Experience on both continents
A practice built in Germany, Rwanda and Mali.
Independence
No commissions from banks, investors, partners or suppliers. The client is the only payer.
We will also tell you when a market, a partner or a structure is not ready for you.
What our due diligence is not
It is not an audit and carries no audit opinion under the HGB. Legal and tax due diligence are carried out by lawyers and tax advisers; we work alongside the client's advisers or recommend independent firms. In any transaction we act for one side only.
Fixed fee, agreed after scoping. It depends on the size of the target, the quality of the data and the timetable.