Assess whether working capital should be a walk-away (721c0e)
August 31, 2026
SITUATION Commercial-diligence partner in a public acquirer facing HSR and sector regulators has one working extract — customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses — after an HSR second-request rumor. If customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses cannot support working capital should be, the only defensible M&A Due Diligence output is hold.
DECISION Commercial-diligence partner in a public acquirer facing HSR and sector regulators must choose Proceed / Reprice / Walk / Hold using customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses after an HSR second-request rumor.
HYPOTHESES TO TEST 1. The population named in customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses is the one an HSR second-request rumor identified, so Proceed follows for this Separation and Integration file. 2. The population in customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses is only adjacent to an HSR second-request rumor; Reprice is the honest M&A Due Diligence call for commercial-diligence partner. 3. A public acquirer facing HSR and sector regulators already contained an HSR second-request rumor before customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses arrived, so working capital should be is not a new Separation and Integration path. 4. Provenance on customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses after an HSR second-request rumor is broken; do not pick Proceed or Reprice for working capital should be yet.
ANALYSIS REQUIRED 1. Test whether an HSR second-request rumor is a diligence gap, a price chip, or a walk-away. 2. Separate a one-off add-back from a recurring earnings issue in customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses. 3. Map reps, earnout mechanics, and integration risk a public acquirer facing HSR and sector regulators would inherit. 4. For this M&A Due Diligence Separation and Integration file, read customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses against an HSR second-request rumor and write the one fact that would move working capital should be for commercial-diligence partner.
RECOMMENDATION Choose Proceed / Reprice / Walk / Hold on this M&A Due Diligence / Separation and Integration packet (customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses after an HSR second-request rumor). The follow-on Separation and Integration action is what commercial-diligence partner does next: implement the option, assign an owner, and log the missing fact.
COMMAND RETURNS - Bottom-line M&A Due Diligence option on working capital should be, then the evidence in customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses, then the action for commercial-diligence partner - Hypothesis scorecard against customer concentration and termination-for-convenience clauses: supported / rejected / untestable - Owner and next date for commercial-diligence partner in a public acquirer facing HSR and sector regulators - What changes working capital should be if an HSR second-request rumor is later withdrawn
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