Ned Legal

Make sure your non-exec delivers:

Real-time market and competitive intelligence; market mapping; M&A and ops benchmarks; investment priorities and costing

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Real insights into all the competitor moves that matter

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The UK's authority on safety, employment law, HR, OH, and B2B compliance markets

About Us

ned Legal, not your typical virtual non-executive director – we do things differently.

ned Legal have unrivalled experience in governance, risk, compliance and legal services markets. Who the players are; market sizes, trends, benchmarks, M&A, and project investments.

We don’t do ’emperor’s clothes’. We tell it straight.

We’re not lawyers. We’re not accountants or IFAs, but we have been where you are and we’re here to help you rely on the hard facts. We’ve built companies from scratch, grown small ones into big ones, acquired, been acquired, and managed everything from professional adviser engagements to EU Competition Commission negotiations.

Our knowledge and experience in the corporate financial sector is as good as any, but we’re the only ones who give marketing, operations and line director experience the lead.. We’re happy to share that so you can make the best decisions for your circumstances. And don’t worry, confidentiality is in our DNA.

Find out more about us or what we do.

Keeping the playing fields level in legal, safety and compliance services markets for over 30 years.

Services And Support

NED has been delivering the definitive Market Due Diligence insights for Governance, Regulatory, Compliance and Legal Services markets in the UK for over 30 years.

We’ve built what is quite simply the best data set on GRC suppliers in the UK.

These are not 3-5 year snapshots or credit report selections, but 30 years of real insight and intelligence continuously re-assessed, revised and kept up-to-date. We track every company in your market, then brick-build the hard economics so you can see the real lie of the land.

Supply-side and CMA economic disciplines underpin everything we do. Companies stand on our benchmarks intelligence.

Weekly Market Intelligence

Weekly updates straight to your inbox. In-depth and informative real time insight. Market strategies, ops and tactics explained through real examples of teams making real plays right now.

Due Diligence
Reports

A vast amount of data and economic analysis boiled down to accessible charts, benchmarks and key lessons on pricing, M&A benchmarks and long term trends.

Real-time Project
Support

Know what buyers fear, what sellers miss and learn how to deliver deals that are truly win-win. Take the lessons of enterprise value into all of its operational implications.

The Keys to Successful Negotiations

Know more than they do

Is a firm doing well in a tough segment or catching an easy ride? How many others do what they do they way they do it? Don’t expect a 3 year history (or projection) to tell you anything meaningful. What 3 issues most affect the ‘anchor’ number that make a deal possible or not? Which two benchmarks demonstrate why they’re different and desirable, and what implications are there for integration going forward?

Timing and targeting beats dressing.

Most firms already know who they need to buy or who they should sell to (or they damn well should do). Buyers know that sellers only sell when they’re tired or can’t face the next hill alone. Dressing a business and hoping for the best is a mugs game; the best buyers hate ‘dressed’ prospects and often won’t even deal with brokers accordingly. Auctions are the poor relation of sweetheart and limited prospect deals. Canny buyers only play them to edge the price up to painful levels for others.

Chemistry closes deals, not tactics or structures.

Finding companies that do X or Y is never the problem. Understanding why they do what they do, how they’re different, and the challenges they’ve overcome is just the starting point. Without real respect for the entrepreneur and their contribution, the deal will always founder in due diligence. What makes great line directors great can make them a real liability in M&A, both in negotiation and implementations.

Expect to be let down; change scares and money excites.

There’s a balance to be struck between devising post completion implementations and raiding the kitchen. You won’t learn everything you need, but if you don’t know what to ask (and when); you shouldn’t be there in the first place. Very occasionally there are liars and idiots in play. Don’t let confidentiality protocols stop you asking the people you need to talk to sensitive questions.

Advisors advise; principals act.

Lawyers and accountants break deals, they don’t make them. Buyers need focused due diligence drilling into the core risks. Sellers hate teams of accountants swarming over data asking damn fool questions. Principals and negotiators must ensure they’ve paid enough into the trust and empathy account up front, as the formal due diligence process will (and should) test it, often to destruction.

ned Legal, not your typical virtual non-executive director – we do things differently.

Keeping the playing fields level in legal, safety and compliance services markets for over 30 years.