European MedTech Target Screening: Building a List from Scratch
Reverse-engineered acquisition criteria from prior deal history to build a shortlist with no initial brief
Sarthi Goyal
Senior Associate at WNS
From their time as
Senior Associate
WNS • 2024 - 2026
Overview
Sarthi received one of the most open-ended briefs of his time at WNS: a banker wanted a list of European MedTech acquisition targets, with no screening criteria, no size parameters, and no sector sub-segment defined. The only constraint was geography.
The Story
Sarthi received one of the most open-ended briefs of his time at WNS: a banker wanted a list of European MedTech acquisition targets, with no screening criteria, no size parameters, and no sector sub-segment defined. The only constraint was geography.
Rather than waiting for more direction, he reverse-engineered the criteria from the acquirer's own history. He read the company's financials, management discussion and analysis, and prior acquisition announcements to understand what the company had bought before and how those deals had performed. From that, he built his own view of what a good target would look like.
He then ran a structured screen across European MedTech, filtering by business activity to remove duplicate operators and narrowing the universe based on the strategic synergies each candidate would create for the acquirer. Every company on the final list had a documented rationale tied back to the acquirer's stated priorities and deal history.
When he presented the list to the banker, it received a five-out-of-five feedback rating. The banker confirmed the list was suitable and moved forward with it.