Before a public-sector issuer came to market, the global investment bank managing the offering needed the diligence a prospectus cannot supply: an independent investigation of the issuer, paired with background investigations of the named senior executives who would carry the offering.
“The engagement ran the company and the individuals in parallel.”
The engagement, carried out during my tenure at a global investigations firm, ran the company and the individuals in parallel. On the company side: corporate record, regulatory history, litigation, and the commentary of the market it operated in. On the individual side: the career histories, directorships, and reputations of the executives, checked through records and through people who had worked with and across them.
Underwriters' counsel and bankers work on the listing clock, and the reporting was built for it: findings moved to the deal team as they firmed up, rather than being held for one report at the end.
In my observation, issuer due diligence of this kind is now common when banks bring Indian companies to market. I take the same approach in the due diligence I do for investors now: the company and its people are investigated together.