Kevin Defour, Director in Deloitte’s M&A Corporate Finance Team, based in Brussels, Belgium. [Video]

Kevin Defour shares the purpose-driven opportunities behind his decade-long journey with Deloitte’s M&A Corporate Finance Team. Watch his story.

Kevin Defour is a Director in Deloitte’s M&A Corporate Finance Team, based in Brussels, Belgium.

“I started in Deloitte in 2014, so almost ten years ago. Graduating from university as a commercial engineer, I started within our due diligence practice, so mostly financial due diligence more from a technical perspective.

I did that for two years, and then basically went down to our corporate finance team – so advising companies, sell and buy-side transactions, with going from the execution of a deal to more commercial tasks in order to generate business, and to lead clients throughout the whole process,” says Kevin.

M&A is a people business

“I often say to clients, we are in the people business. It’s all about trust,” says Kevin.

“Our focus is really on family entrepreneurs, which almost always sell just once in their lifetime. So of course, you need the technical basis, of course, you need the technical skills in executing and managing a mandate. But for me, it’s all about the trust people give us as advisors to guide them through that once-in-a-lifetime moment. And for me that’s a very important one. It’s a people business, so really trust should come both ways, next to the more technical skills. That for me is absolutely key.”

Empowered by M&A moments that matter

“There may be two things for me which empower me in what I do.,” says Kevin.

“First of all, the opportunities – and it sounds a bit cliché maybe – the opportunities I’ve received within Deloitte to grow, but also to grow the team to where we are today. I think I’ve been able to make an impact there in terms of people, in terms of strategy. And that trajectory is really super to be a part of.

Secondly, when we close significant deals to make an impact that matters towards the families we work with, by definition, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but also it’s something they’ve never gone through before. We are in M&A to close deals. So those are the moments which really matter and make the difference for me.”

A technology partnership for modern dealmaking

“One way of doing M&A that’s changed over the past years – being more digital and using the tools to really speed up the process. We also make it more efficient and keep parties focusing on whatever they have to focus on. There for us, Ansarada is a very important tool, obviously.

Not only from a transactional point of view, but also from a legal point of view, it’s a very important tool and instrument. It’s about being sure and being comfortable that our life is made easier in terms of how we create data rooms and populate data rooms.”

“I think Ansarada really turned out to be a partner of ours. If we had some issues or if we had questions, we always got help quite fast. Opening a data room today is
a hundred percent easier and more efficient than it was ten years ago, I would say,” says Kevin. “So that’s a win for us, but also for our clients because our clients also have to work with the data rooms.”

“For us it’s daily business, for but for our clients as family-owned businesses, it’s often not, so the user friendliness is key. With Ansarada, we feel the best match in terms of that link between how we use the data room and how our clients perceive it. And we know that we have a structured process and an information package to give to our potential buyers. So that’s a huge value as well from Ansarada.”

“In general, Ansarada helps bring order into the chaos of an M&A process.”