DEEP LEVEL DUE DILIGENCE / Kingsmen International Group

Decisions involving significant business moves, large-scale acquisitions, new partnerships, and expanding operations into new, and foreign, countries inevitably involve trade-offs between risks and benefits. Kingsmen International Group Deep-Level Due Diligence service supports clients’ risk management and helps minimise such business risks by providing comprehensive assessments of business targets.

A distinct tool to financial and legal due diligence, Kingsmen International Group Deep-Level Due Diligence delves into the people behind the target company; their motives and interests, past behavior in other roles, and any other information that could reveal behaviour contrary to the strategy of Kingsmen International Group clients.

Our unique Deep-Level Due Diligence methodology produces a broad and detailed overview of the designated target, taking into account a multitude of financial, marketing, legal, and technical aspects.

Kingsmen International Group First level due diligence typically consists of checking individual names and company names through several hundred Global Watch lists comprised of anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, sanctions lists & other financial corruption & criminal databases. These global lists create a useful first-level screening tool to detect potential red flags for corrupt activities. It is also a very inexpensive first step in compliance from an investigative viewpoint. This basic level is extremely important for companies to complement their compliance policies and procedures; demonstrating a broad intent to actively comply with international regulatory requirements.

What are next levels of due diligence?

Supplementing these Global Watch lists with a deeper screening of international media (typically the major newspapers & periodicals from all countries) plus detailed internet searches, will often reveal other forms of corruption-related information and may expose undisclosed or hidden information about the company, it’s key executives and associated parties.

This combined information creates a more effective screening for corruption compliance purposes. Red/ yellow/green flag alerts based on these results can then be used to prioritize in-depth investigations. Summary reports should show the information sources reviewed and recommendations for further actions if indicated. Green flags suggest no further actions based on findings; however the information sources searched are limited and should not be considered the same as deep-level due diligence. Red flags indicate the possibility is high that corruption, bribery, money laundering and or undue political influence may be likely, or is actively occurring. Designing a multi-layered investigative approach from this point is essential in order to implement an effective business risk mitigation and compliance strategy.

These first two levels of due diligence alone are not sufficient if you have a substantial operation at stake, or a multi-million dollar investment, developing a new product, building a larger facility, developing a new market sector or creating a new supply chain for your existing products or services. After all, why take risks when you don’t have to.

Kingsmen International Group next level due diligence should also include an in-depth background check of key executives or principal players. These are not routine employment-type background checks which are simply designed to confirm existing information; but rather executive due diligence checks designed to investigate hidden, secret or undisclosed information about that individual.

Reputational information, involvement in other businesses, direct or indirect involvement in other law suits, history of litigious and other lifestyle behaviors which can adversely affect your business, and public perceptions of impropriety, should they be disclosed publically.

One litmus test would be: How would it look to the public and your shareholders if an executive immerses your company in questionable business practices or regulatory violations?

About 20% of executives do not check out well. As the saying goes: “people are people”, and executives reflect most of the same issues seen in other employee groups. Most frequently the adverse issues for executives involve undisclosed business dealings that may compromise your company’s new venture, SEC violations, criminal history, no degree(s) earned, loss of professional licensure, mis-statement of personal success/wealth, fraudulent activity and multiple bankruptcies. In many parts of the world bribery and corruption are considered a normal part of business dealings.

Kingsmen International Group deep-level due diligence investigations are designed to supply you with comprehensive analysis of all available public records data supplemented with detailed field intelligence to identify known and more importantly unknown conditions. Seasoned investigators who know the local language and are familiar with local politics bring an extra layer of depth assessment to an in country investigation.

Direction of the work and analyzing the resulting data is often critical to a successful outcome; and key to understanding the results both from a technical perspective and understanding what the results mean in plain English. Investigative reports should include actionable recommendations based on clearly defined assumptions or preferably well-developed factual data points.

What are the benefits of Deep Level Due Diligence? 

Kingsmen International Group in addition to regulatory compliance and protecting your Board Of Directors, if a deal or business relationship is too risky the company has an informed option to re-negotiate or fundamentally change the terms of the deal, initiate damage control if needed, or even pull out of the deal entirely. Decisions involving significant business moves, large-scale acquisitions, new partnerships, and expanding operations into new, and foreign, countries inevitably involve trade-offs between risks and benefits. Kingsmen International Group Deep-Level Due Diligence service supports clients’ risk management and helps minimise such business risks by providing comprehensive assessments of business targets.

A distinct tool to financial and legal due diligence, Kingsmen International Group Deep-Level Due Diligence delves into the people behind the target company; their motives and interests, past behavior in other roles, and any other information that could reveal behaviour contrary to the strategy of Kingsmen International Group clients.

Our unique Deep-Level Due Diligence methodology produces a broad and detailed overview of the designated target, taking into account a multitude of financial, marketing, legal, and technical aspects.

Kingsmen International Group First level due diligence typically consists of checking individual names and company names through several hundred Global Watch lists comprised of anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, sanctions lists & other financial corruption & criminal databases. These global lists create a useful first-level screening tool to detect potential red flags for corrupt activities. It is also a very inexpensive first step in compliance from an investigative viewpoint. This basic level is extremely important for companies to complement their compliance policies and procedures; demonstrating a broad intent to actively comply with international regulatory requirements.

What are next levels of due diligence? 

Supplementing these Global Watch lists with a deeper screening of international media (typically the major newspapers & periodicals from all countries) plus detailed internet searches, will often reveal other forms of corruption-related information and may expose undisclosed or hidden information about the company, it’s key executives and associated parties.

This combined information creates a more effective screening for corruption compliance purposes. Red/ yellow/green flag alerts based on these results can then be used to prioritize in-depth investigations. Summary reports should show the information sources reviewed and recommendations for further actions if indicated. Green flags suggest no further actions based on findings; however the information sources searched are limited and should not be considered the same as deep-level due diligence. Red flags indicate the possibility is high that corruption, bribery, money laundering and or undue political influence may be likely, or is actively occurring. Designing a multi-layered investigative approach from this point is essential in order to implement an effective business risk mitigation and compliance strategy.

These first two levels of due diligence alone are not sufficient if you have a substantial operation at stake, or a multi-million dollar investment, developing a new product, building a larger facility, developing a new market sector or creating a new supply chain for your existing products or services. After all, why take risks when you don’t have to.

Kingsmen International Group next level due diligence should also include an in-depth background check of key executives or principal players. These are not routine employment-type background checks which are simply designed to confirm existing information; but rather executive due diligence checks designed to investigate hidden, secret or undisclosed information about that individual.

Reputational information, involvement in other businesses, direct or indirect involvement in other law suits, history of litigious and other lifestyle behaviors which can adversely affect your business, and public perceptions of impropriety, should they be disclosed publically.

One litmus test would be: How would it look to the public and your shareholders if an executive immerses your company in questionable business practices or regulatory violations?

About 20% of executives do not check out well. As the saying goes: “people are people”, and executives reflect most of the same issues seen in other employee groups. Most frequently the adverse issues for executives involve undisclosed business dealings that may compromise your company’s new venture, SEC violations, criminal history, no degree(s) earned, loss of professional licensure, mis-statement of personal success/wealth, fraudulent activity and multiple bankruptcies. In many parts of the world bribery and corruption are considered a normal part of business dealings.

Kingsmen International Group deep-level due diligence investigations are designed to supply you with comprehensive analysis of all available public records data supplemented with detailed field intelligence to identify known and more importantly unknown conditions. Seasoned investigators who know the local language and are familiar with local politics bring an extra layer of depth assessment to an in country investigation.

Direction of the work and analyzing the resulting data is often critical to a successful outcome; and key to understanding the results both from a technical perspective and understanding what the results mean in plain English. Investigative reports should include actionable recommendations based on clearly defined assumptions or preferably well-developed factual data points.

What are the benefits of Deep Level Due Diligence?  

Kingsmen International Group in addition to regulatory compliance and protecting your Board Of Directors, if a deal or business relationship is too risky the company has an informed option to re-negotiate or fundamentally change the terms of the deal, initiate damage control if needed, or even pull out of the deal entirely.

Comprehensive investigative reports will provide effective, meaningful results & actionable reports which are directly tied to corporate objectives.

Deep level due diligence should have a targeted approach articulated in a scope of work; these are not random investigations. The more that is known about your corporate objectives from the start of the investigation, the more likely the investigators are to provide useful information. All of this can be accomplished through NDA’s or other contract products.

Older style due diligence investigations used to include all available information, including vehicle descriptions, license plates & telephone numbers of all parties associated with the identified executives & businesses. These old-school investigations were based on traditional law enforcement fact-gathering and evidence based reporting. However unless you plan to conduct an undercover investigation or sting operation, these data points are rarely of significance for due diligence purposes.

Kingsmen International Group