How deep does the verification go?

To the limit of publicly available material in the jurisdiction concerned, which varies enormously. Some countries publish shareholding, accounts and disputes; others publish little more than a registration. We state per candidate what was accessible, so that you know whether a clean file means a verified company or simply an opaque jurisdiction.

Do you approach the candidates you identify?

Not as part of this assignment. Identification and verification are one exercise; approaching a company in your name is another, studied separately, because the wording, the timing and the confidentiality of an approach have consequences of their own. Most clients prefer to make first contact themselves once the file is in hand.

Can you work when we already have candidates in mind?

Yes, and it is a common configuration. We verify the candidates you already have and, in parallel, build a field of comparable companies you have not seen. That comparison is often the most valuable part, because it shows whether your existing candidates are genuinely the best fit or simply the most visible.

Partner Search and Verification Before Any Commitment

The problem this service answers

You need a partner in a territory or on a capability you do not have, and the candidates you have found came through informal channels. You know their pitch and almost nothing about their structure.

A partnership transfers part of your execution, and sometimes part of your reputation, to a company you did not choose from a full field. The candidates that reach you spontaneously are the ones that prospect actively, which is not the same as the ones that fit. Building a real field of candidates changes the negotiation as much as the choice.

The second stake is verification. Corporate structure, ownership chain, related entities, publicly recorded disputes, filing regularity and apparent activity level are all observable in most jurisdictions, and they frequently contradict the impression given by a website. Discovering a structural problem before signing costs a fraction of discovering it afterwards.

What the assignment covers

We start by writing down what the partner must be able to do: technical capability, licences or approvals, territorial footprint, customer profile served, capacity, working languages, and the nature of the relationship envisaged. A partnership for co-development, for local representation or for subcontracting does not call for the same profile, and mixing them produces a useless list.

The search is then conducted across registries, professional bodies, sector directories, procurement records and public sector activity, so that the field includes companies that never prospect internationally. Each candidate is filtered against your criteria before any verification effort is spent on it, because verification is the expensive part of the assignment and it should be reserved for plausible candidates.

Retained candidates are then examined on public material: legal form, registration, shareholding and beneficial ownership where published, group affiliations, filing history, public disputes, apparent scale, and how the company presents itself commercially. The file states what was verified, what could not be, and which points deserve to be raised directly in a first meeting.

How we work on it

We define the partner profile, the role envisaged and the disqualifying criteria.
We build a candidate field from registries, professional and sector sources.
Candidates are filtered on activity, capability and territorial relevance.
Retained candidates are examined on public corporate and reputational material.
Ownership, group links and filing regularity are checked where published.
Each candidate is documented with what is verified and what remains open.
A shortlist is presented with the points to clarify directly with each company.

Where the information comes from

Sources are selected with you at the start of the assignment and reviewed as the subject evolves.

Corporate registries, company filings and published financial statements.
Professional bodies, licences, approvals and sector accreditation lists.
Public procurement records and contract award histories.
Sector directories, trade publications and event participation records.
Public legal and reputational material available in the relevant jurisdictions.

Possible deliverables

The format is chosen with you. A single assignment can combine several of them.

A longlist of candidates with the criteria each one meets.
An individual file per shortlisted candidate with sources and dates.
A verification note on structure, ownership and apparent solidity.
A comparison table of shortlisted candidates on your selection criteria.
A list of points to clarify directly with each candidate before engaging.

Who this service is designed for

Executive teams preparing an international partnership.
Industrial and procurement directors selecting a supplier.
Export managers seeking local representation.
Legal and compliance teams preparing counterparty checks.
Investors assessing the partners of a target company.

What this service does not promise

Verification is based on publicly available material at a given date and does not replace legal or financial due diligence by qualified advisers. Nothing here can assure that a partnership will be concluded or that a verified company will perform.

How to start

Describe the role the partner would play, the territories concerned and what would disqualify a candidate. We come back with a proposed profile and search perimeter.

Request a Confidential Consultation

Partner search and pre-commitment verification