Department profile
S-RM

Investigative Due Diligence

Crisis & Risk Management Guide 2026 : Global-wide

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S-RM

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About

Provided by S-RM

S-RM’s Deal Advisory practice provides specialist support to clients ahead of transactions, delivering intelligence that informs investment decisions, addresses critical intelligence gaps, and answers strategic questions. The practice undertakes investigative due diligence into companies and prospective management teams to help investors identify, understand, and mitigate risk ahead of investments, M&A, capital markets transactions, joint venture partnerships, market entry, and other high-value commercial decisions.

The practice specialises in assessing integrity issues; reputational concerns; corporate governance; track-records; corruption, bribery and other financial crime concerns; political networks and relationships; regulatory dynamics; ESG issues; and cyber security concerns. The practice’s clients include law firms, leading private equity firms, development finance institutions, impact investors, multinational corporations, investment banks, sovereign wealth funds, and investment managers.

S-RM’s traditional investigators are supported by the company’s cyber security experts, who conduct dark and deep web research and identify cyber risks to investment targets.

The practice’s areas of particular expertise include:

  • Pre-transactional due diligence
  • ESG due diligence
  • Asset provenance investigations
  • Stakeholder mapping
  • Market entry studies
  • Background checks
  • Cyber due diligence

Industries (9)

  • Financials & Insurance
  • Legal
  • Consumer Goods
  • Industrials
  • Oil & Gas
  • Private Health & Education
  • Technology
  • Consumer Services
  • Commodity Trading

Chambers Review

Provided by Chambers

Investigative Due Diligence - Global-wide

Band 1

What the Team is Known For

S-RM is a London-headquartered global cyber and intelligence consultancy. The firm's deal advisory team delivers complex pre-transactional due diligence to several of the world's largest private equity houses, corporate/M&A teams, international financial institutions, banks and governments. The team operates globally but has particular expertise gathering intelligence in Asian and the sub-Saharan African markets. The firm's investigators are supported by its cybersecurity experts.

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Strengths

Provided by Chambers

  • S-RM has strong sector expertise and broad global coverage. They are able to scope out matters well from the outset and have a strong grasp of the core issues that the clients are focused on.

    Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

  • S-RM is responsive, professional and has good network of trusted partners to provide us with the depth of background information required.

    Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

  • S‑RM consistently delivers high‑quality products. The team demonstrates a strong commitment to understanding and addressing client needs, making sustained and proactive efforts to provide solutions.

    Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

  • S-RM performs very well under tight timelines and is able to tailor their services based on client needs in a responsive and efficient manner. They are good at preparing tiered plans for review and guiding us through findings.

    Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

  • S-RM demonstrate a clear capacity to structure ambiguous issues, identify the key risk drivers, and deliver sound research and analysis. Their work is well‑reasoned, clearly documented and responsive to evolving requirements, including cross‑jurisdictional considerations and tight timelines.

    Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

Notable Practitioners

Provided by Chambers

  • Ian Massey
    Ian Massey

    Ian Massey

    Ian Massey heads S-RM's corporate intelligence team in EMEA. Massey is an impressive investigator with a global clientele, regularly advising clients on pre-transactional due diligence and other deal-related intelligence.

    • Ian has an intuitive sense of our risk appetite.

      Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

    • Ian has been an excellent client relationship manager and a valued counterpart for us. He is professional, engaged, and brings clarity and good judgement to client discussions.

      Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

    • Ian is extremely capable and always my go-to person. He responds quickly, takes control of issues and is capable of building fit for purpose reviews for each matter. I trust him to get the right product, on time and at the right price point.

      Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

    • Ian is our go-to for counterparty background checks. His excellent client service and high-quality output now mean that S-RM has become our standing counsel for these matters.

      Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

    • Ian provides excellent service. He is always responsive and has a deep knowledge and understanding of our ways of working. He also goes above and beyond to ensure delivery timelines are met, even when these can sometimes be shorter than ideal.

      Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management
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  • Morgan Stark
    Morgan Stark

    Morgan Stark

    Morgan Stark is the director of S-RM's Hong Kong operation and the Asia-Pacific head of corporate intelligence. Morgan has overseen S-RM's recent expansion in Asia, with new offices opening in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

    • Morgan delivers excellent client service, demonstrating strong attentiveness to client needs and high responsiveness. He is agile in adapting to evolving requirements, tailoring well‑structured and insightful reports to specific objectives. His team's work reflects strong sophistication and commercial awareness, ensuring outputs are well-documented, clearly reasoned and decision‑useful.

      Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

    • Morgan is the best in the region. He offers excellent service, excellent knowledge and excellent responsiveness.

      Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management

    • Morgan is a trusted partner when conducting due diligence - he is timely, responsive and understands our concerns.

      Investigative Due Diligence respondentCrisis & Risk Management
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Ranked Individuals at S-RM (2)

Global-wide

Members

Provided by S-RM

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