Johan Marais
Naturalist
2
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Jul 8, 2026
Ghost Stories #108: Due diligence decoded - inside the modern deal risk process
15:32
But Johan, just confirming that I'm right, I guess, that in a cross-border world, the risk in a due diligence, the amount of thinking that needs to go into planning it and trying to optimize the cost to the client, which is the point Bongiwa has just correctly raised, versus the risk, the complexity just goes through the roof, right?
J
15:49Johan MaraisGUEST
Complexity, and if you're not careful, the cost as well for performing the transaction from an advisory perspective.
J
15:55Johan MaraisGUEST
You have much more risk once you go cross-border than And to understand that risk, that's very important.
J
16:00Johan MaraisGUEST
And it's not foreign currency risk, but also the flow of funds in and out of a country, as well as a tax risk as well.
J
16:06Johan MaraisGUEST
When we do a due diligence, often there's a subsidiary, associate, another investment that is outside the borders of South Africa.
J
16:13Johan MaraisGUEST
Now, we are very fortunate at Forbes Mazars that we have a presence in almost 30 countries, which is fantastic when we assist the client to actually perform potential acquisition, specifically on the tax side of things.
7 MINS LATER
23:22
Any closing comments from your side for clients to be taken into account when they're thinking about a due diligence and perhaps just a comment or two on the benefit of working with the Forbis Mazars team specifically?
Man arrested at airport with150 venomous scorpions
J
2:29Johan MaraisGUEST
And, you know, every area has a carrying capacity, so that area can house that number of scorpions because there's sufficient habitat and food for them, and you take a big chunk away from there, it leaves a permanent scar.
J
2:43Johan MaraisGUEST
The other problem is that it's extremely difficult to reintroduce these scorpions unless we know exactly where they come from.
J
2:51Johan MaraisGUEST
And in the process of removing scorpions, they're often far away from their burrows, they often live in rock crevices that get demolished, so the habitat is damaged.
J
3:02Johan MaraisGUEST
And the likelihood of reintroduced scorpions surviving is very, very unlikely.

