AI Issue 4 2018 - John Harrison & Company

16 Acquisition International - Issue 4 2018 Zephus Limited is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Bureau van Dijk that specialises in data collection and research. We spoke to Lisa Wright, Managing Director of Zephus & Head of M&A Products at Bureau van Dijk, as we aim to find out more about her success, as she features in AI’s 2018 Global Excellence Awards as the Most Influential Woman in M&A Research. lease provide us with a brief overview of Zephus, the clients you typically deal with, and the services you offer? Back in 2002, Zephus was acquired by Bureau van Dijk, and until 2011 focused primarily on collecting global M&A, Private Equity, Venture Capital and IPO deal information for inclusion in the Zephyr global deals database. Since 2011, and with the continued backing of Bureau van Dijk, the Zephus business has expanded substantially and has become the de facto research centre for numerous proprietary datasets which feed the company’s expanding product portfolio. The different datasets the company collects for Bureau van Dijk now include global greenfield investment projects, global patent sale transactions, anti- money laundering documentation for financial institutions and global ownership information. Orbis is Bureau van Dijk’s flagship global product providing information on more than 280 million companies, the majority of which are privately owned entities. Each dataset collected by the Zephus business is integrated into Orbis, as well as specific products such as Zephyr, Orbis Crossborder Investments and Orbis Intellectual Property, which all serve different client bases. Orbis is used across the world by many organisations, whether in conjunction with mergers and acquisitions work, determining strategy, transfer pricing studies, meeting compliance requirements or identifying credit risk. Ultimately, the common requirement that our clients share is to have the broadest, most accurate and timely information on Company: Bureau van Dijk Contact: Lisa Wright Website: bvdinfo.com Committed to a Culture of Continuous Improvement P 1802AI80 privately-held companies, their company structures and their business activities in terms of M&A deals, investment into projects or intellectual property portfolios. What is Zephus’ overall mission and what steps do the team take to achieve this? How do you integrate innovation into every aspect of your work? The primary purpose of Zephus is to provide Bureau van Dijk with high-quality, accurate and timely data for inclusion in all Bureau van Dijk products. Great products with market-leading data enable the company to maintain its existing client base and to continue to establish relationships with new clients. Therefore, I see our business mission to be that of being Bureau van Dijk’s centre of excellence for data research, collection and analysis. This goal can only be achieved by looking at all parts of the equation, i.e. both the data sources and the people who utilise the data. We strive to ensure that we utilise the best possible data sources that are applicable to each different content set, and that we provide all our people with the relevant training, knowledge and skills to be able to work with the sources identified. As it is our employees who work day in and day out on specific geographical areas or in specific subject matters, we encourage them to feed back to us the changes they are seeing within their areas of responsibility so the business can continue to evolve and innovate. Emerging trends or changes in regulation can be quickly identified and appropriately communicated, leading to broader discussions throughout the senior management team as to their potential implications on our work. Coupled with my attendance of industry-specific events, where there will be an external view of market-influencing factors and developments, I believe that we wholeheartedly adopt the philosophy of looking to continually improve on what we already do. What differentiates Zephus from its competitors and marks it out as the best possible option for clients? Bureau van Dijk’s philosophy has always been one of striving to provide the best possible products on “Bureau van Dijk’s philosophy has always been one of striving to provide the best possible products on privately held companies that are appropriate for relevant clients and markets.”