About the client—and the carve-out context
A leading U.S. private equity (PE) firm evaluating the acquisition of a global ITSM/AIOps software company carved out from a larger enterprise needed technical due diligence that went far beyond a surface audit. With two decades of product history and category strength across healthcare, BFSI, manufacturing and the public sector, the target looked compelling on paper—but the code would have the final word.
In carve-outs, technology risk and value creation aren’t theoretical; they shape valuation, day-one stability and the five-year plan.
The business challenge: evidence that moves a deal
The investment committee wanted a multi-dimensional picture: true product maturity and scalability; a real risk profile spanning security, code quality, cloud readiness, and technical debt; and insight precise enough to sharpen price, structure and the value-creation strategy. Complexity raised the stakes: a code estate of 200–300+ GB, 500M+ lines of code, tens of thousands of repositories and 174+ technologies—with a legacy-heavy footprint, rising infra/cloud costs and hygiene gaps in R&D/DevOps. Then came the reveal: 35,000+ unaddressed security vulnerabilities—none clearly surfaced in early seller conversations.
In late-cycle markets, winners lean on operational value creation and hard technical truth—not narratives.
Our approach: SASVA™ inside the client’s walls
Persistent ran its SASVA™ platform inside the client’s secure environment due to IP sensitivity—no direct code access. That meant remote configuration, client-side orchestration and creative workarounds for infra constraints—while still delivering a touchless, tool-driven, context-rich assessment. The goal wasn’t to produce a static risk register; it was to produce board-ready causality that links issues to costs, user experience and maintainability.
Scope at a glance
- 200–300+ GB of code
- 500M+ LOC
- 174+ technologies
- Tens of thousands of repositories
- 20+ years of frameworks and patterns
- 35,000+ security vulnerabilities flagged for triage and prioritization
A scan is table stakes; deterministic analysis + expert interpretation is what converts findings into deal leverage.
What SASVA evaluated (and why it matters)
- Security posture: Prioritized exposure across 35K+ vulnerabilities for targeted remediation and compliance risk reduction.
- Code architecture & modularity: Identified decomposition hot-spots to unlock parallel development and safer releases.
- Cloud readiness & infra optimization: Traced concrete paths to rein in infrastructure spend and reduce friction to modern hosting models.
- Engineering productivity & DevOps hygiene: Assessed automation gaps, CI/CD maturity, and quality gates to improve release predictability.
- Technical debt & modernization feasibility: Distinguished where to re-platform, refactor, or retire—with rationale and effort contours.
Findings alone don’t persuade an Investment Committee. Sequenced levers—what to do, in what order, and why—do.
From findings to causality
Beyond listing issues, SASVA mapped corrective levers, optimization opportunities and growth enablers, estimating their effect on cost, UX and future maintainability. That shift—from raw metrics to causal impact—gave the buyer a narrative that stands up to diligence from finance, security and product leaders alike.
Metrics don’t decide deals—credible causality does. Buyers need to see what the code implies for valuation and the five-year value plan, not just what it contains.
Business impact (delivered in 14 days)
- Sharper valuation & terms: Code-backed evidence strengthened negotiation posture and clarified representations/warranties.
- Risk avoidance: Visibility into 35K+ vulnerabilities reduced the probability of future breach penalties and reputational harm; prioritization focused effort where it mattered most.
- Engineering cost optimization: Re-engineering opportunities indicated 50–70% R&D effort reduction in certain components—without compromising roadmap intmodernization roadmapsegrity.
- Cloud cost efficiency: Specific hotspots for infra spend containment were identified, with options that balance cost and resiliency.
- Time-to-decision: A months-long exercise landed in 14 days, compressing cycle time without sacrificing depth and keeping deal momentum intact.
Diligence is a starting line, not a finish line. Value compounds when evidence becomes a modernization roadmap.
Beyond diligence: portfolio-wide momentum
Encouraged by results, the client extended SASVA to other portfolio assets—expanding into infrastructure carve-out planning, modernization roadmaps and cloud cost containment. The model scales because the lenses are standardized and repeatable, and outputs are consistent, comparable and actionable across companies.
Firms that institutionalize tech DD and modernization playbooks price with confidence and execute value creation earlier.
Why the client chose Persistent
- Strategic advisors, not just engineers — The team effectively “lived a 30-year product lifecycle in two weeks,” translating findings into deal posture and a sequenced value-creation plan.
- Depth beyond metrics — From code intent to product viability: what to fix, why and in what order—so execution stays aligned with the investment thesis.
- SASVA™ platform advantage — A unified lens across architecture, cloud, security, and engineering; GenAI-powered, expert-interpreted for credibility with both tech and finance stakeholders.
- Flexible deployment — Executed fully within the client’s environment, overcoming IP and access constraints without code exfiltration.
Make technology your edge at the table. Get a SASVA – powered tech due diligence that delivers a first-cut view in 24–48 hours and a deep assessment in 7 days – tying code reality to valuation, risk and longer-term plans.
