Overview

/ma-analyze is a production command in the M&A Operations category of the Prismatic Platform that performs comprehensive Mergers and Acquisitions analysis spanning financial valuation, legal due diligence, operational assessment, and strategic fit evaluation. When an acquisition target has been identified through /ma-create and initial profiling is complete, the /ma-analyze command executes a deep, multi-dimensional analysis that produces the evidence base required for informed deal decisions.

This command operates under the L3+ authority level and is executed by the ma-financial-analyst agent. It is part of the platform's 216-command slash command registry, built on the AIAD (Autonomous Intelligence Agent Design) standard. The L3+ authority level reflects the sensitivity of M&A intelligence and ensures that analysis operations are restricted to operators with appropriate clearance for deal-sensitive material.

M&A analysis within the Prismatic Platform is distinguished by its integration of traditional financial analysis methods with the platform's intelligence capabilities. The /investigate command provides OSINT intelligence on acquisition targets, /email-osint maps key personnel and organizational relationships, and /ghost-recon assesses the target's digital infrastructure. The /ma-analyze command synthesizes all of these intelligence streams alongside financial data, legal filings, and operational metrics into a unified analysis framework calibrated by the NABLA epistemic framework for confidence scoring.

The analysis engine supports multiple valuation methodologies including Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Comparable Company Analysis, Precedent Transaction Analysis, and Asset-Based Valuation. Each methodology produces independent valuations that are then cross-referenced to establish a defensible valuation range with NABLA-calibrated confidence intervals.

Architecture

The M&A analysis system is structured as a multi-domain assessment engine with parallel analysis tracks that converge into a unified deal assessment.

Analysis Architecture

/ma-analyze -> Analysis Orchestrator -> Domain Analyzers -> Synthesis Engine
                      |                       |                    |
                      v                       v                    v
                Deal Context           Financial Analyzer    Unified Assessment
                Intel Integration      Legal Analyzer        Confidence Scoring
                Scope Management       Operational Analyzer  Recommendation Engine
                                       Strategic Analyzer
                                       Technical Analyzer

Analysis Domains

Domain	Analyzer	Key Outputs	Weight
Financial	`ma-financial-analyst`	DCF, comparables, multiples, projections	30%
Legal	`ma-legal-analyst`	Regulatory risk, IP portfolio, litigation, contracts	20%
Operational	`ma-operations-analyst`	Capacity, supply chain, workforce, processes	20%
Strategic	`ma-strategy-analyst`	Market position, synergies, competitive impact	15%
Technical	`ma-technical-analyst`	Technology stack, technical debt, integration cost	15%

Valuation Methodologies

Methodology	Approach	Strengths	Limitations
DCF	Projected free cash flows, discount rate	Forward-looking, intrinsic value	Sensitive to assumptions
Comparable Companies	Market multiples from similar firms	Market-based, current	Requires comparable firms
Precedent Transactions	Multiples from past M&A deals	Reflects acquisition premiums	Historical, may be stale
Asset-Based	Net asset value, replacement cost	Tangible floor value	Ignores growth potential
LBO Analysis	Leveraged buyout return model	Returns-focused, practical	Assumes specific capital structure

Usage

# Run comprehensive analysis on a deal
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --scope=full

# Financial analysis only
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --scope=financial

# Legal due diligence
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --scope=legal

# Quick strategic assessment
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --scope=strategic --depth=quick

# Analysis with OSINT intelligence integration
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --integrate-intel --osint-depth=full

# Run specific valuation methodology
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --valuation=dcf --discount-rate=0.12

# Comparable company analysis with custom peer set
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --valuation=comparables --peers="COMP-A,COMP-B,COMP-C"

# Export analysis to structured format
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --format=json --output=deal-analysis.json

# Update existing analysis with new data
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --update --data-source=q4-financials.xlsx

# Sensitivity analysis on key assumptions
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --sensitivity --variables="growth_rate,discount_rate,margin"

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
`deal_id`	string	required	Deal identifier (positional argument)
`--scope`	string	full	Analysis scope: full, financial, legal, operational, strategic, technical
`--depth`	string	standard	Analysis depth: quick, standard, comprehensive, exhaustive
`--valuation`	string	all	Valuation method: dcf, comparables, precedent, asset-based, lbo, all
`--integrate-intel`	flag	false	Integrate OSINT intelligence from platform investigations
`--osint-depth`	string	standard	OSINT integration depth: quick, standard, full
`--discount-rate`	float	0.10	Discount rate for DCF analysis
`--projection-years`	integer	5	Number of years for financial projections
`--peers`	string	auto	Comma-separated peer company identifiers
`--format`	string	text	Output format: text, json, markdown, pdf
`--output`	string	stdout	Output file path
`--update`	flag	false	Update existing analysis with new data
`--data-source`	string	none	Additional data source file
`--sensitivity`	flag	false	Run sensitivity analysis
`--variables`	string	all	Comma-separated sensitivity variables
`--confidence-threshold`	float	0.7	Minimum confidence for reported findings
`--currency`	string	USD	Reporting currency

Execution Flow

Deal Context Loading: The specified deal is loaded from the M&A pipeline with all associated data including target company profile, preliminary assessments, and any existing analysis results. The deal must have been created through /ma-create and must be in an active state.
Intelligence Integration: If --integrate-intel is enabled, the system retrieves OSINT intelligence previously collected on the target through /investigate, /email-osint, and /ghost-recon. This intelligence supplements the financial and operational data.
Parallel Domain Analysis: Each analysis domain (financial, legal, operational, strategic, technical) is executed in parallel using Task.async_stream. Each domain analyzer operates independently, producing domain-specific findings with confidence scores.
Financial Valuation: The financial analyzer executes all requested valuation methodologies. Each methodology produces an independent valuation range. The analyzer also generates pro-forma financial statements, synergy estimates, and integration cost projections.
Legal Assessment: The legal analyzer evaluates regulatory requirements, antitrust implications, intellectual property portfolio strength, pending litigation, contractual obligations, and compliance posture. Regulatory risk is scored across all relevant jurisdictions.
Operational Evaluation: The operational analyzer assesses manufacturing capacity, supply chain dependencies, workforce composition, process maturity, and operational efficiency. Integration complexity is estimated across each operational dimension.
Strategic Fit Analysis: The strategic analyzer evaluates market position enhancement, competitive impact, synergy realization probability, customer overlap, and geographic complementarity. Strategic rationale is scored against the acquirer's stated objectives.
Technical Assessment: The technical analyzer evaluates the target's technology stack, technical debt levels, infrastructure requirements, integration complexity, and key technical talent. Compatibility with the acquirer's technology ecosystem is assessed.
Cross-Domain Synthesis: All domain analyses are synthesized into a unified deal assessment. Contradictory findings across domains are preserved per the addiction preservation doctrine. Cross-domain correlations are identified and documented.
Confidence Calibration: All findings receive NABLA-calibrated confidence scores based on data quality, source reliability, and cross-domain corroboration. The overall deal confidence score aggregates domain confidence scores weighted by domain importance.
Recommendation Generation: Based on the synthesized analysis, the system generates a recommendation (Proceed, Proceed with Conditions, Hold for Additional Data, Do Not Proceed) with supporting evidence and risk factors.

Integration Points

Component	Relationship	Details
Prismatic Agents	Executed by `ma-financial-analyst`	Coordinates domain analysis agents
/ma-create	Deal source	Provides deal context and target profile
/ma-report	Report generation	Formats analysis into structured reports
/ma-dashboard	Pipeline view	Analysis status visible in dashboard
/investigate	OSINT intelligence	Target company intelligence integration
/email-osint	Personnel intelligence	Key personnel mapping
/ghost-recon	Infrastructure intel	Digital infrastructure assessment
/intel-export	Intelligence packaging	Structured intel for analysis
NABLA Framework	Confidence calibration	Epistemic scoring for all findings
Quality Gates	Analysis quality	Completeness and accuracy validation
Telemetry	Execution metrics	Analysis timing, coverage tracking

Best Practices

Start with quick depth for initial screening. The quick depth completes in under a minute and provides enough signal to determine whether a comprehensive analysis is warranted. This prevents spending significant compute and API resources on targets that fail basic financial or strategic criteria.

Always integrate OSINT intelligence. The platform's intelligence capabilities provide information that traditional financial analysis misses: key personnel social networks, organizational culture indicators, technology infrastructure quality, and digital security posture. Use --integrate-intel for all comprehensive analyses.

Use multiple valuation methodologies. No single valuation method is definitive. Running all available methodologies and comparing the resulting ranges provides a more defensible valuation basis. Significant divergence between methodologies often indicates areas requiring deeper investigation.

Run sensitivity analysis on material assumptions. M&A valuations are highly sensitive to growth rate, discount rate, and margin assumptions. Use --sensitivity to understand how changes in key assumptions affect the deal economics before committing to a recommendation.

Review cross-domain contradictions. The synthesis engine preserves contradictory findings across domains. A target that scores well on financial metrics but poorly on operational assessment may indicate financial engineering masking operational weakness. Always investigate contradictions.

Document data limitations. Use the confidence scores to communicate data limitations to stakeholders. A financial analysis with high confidence but low confidence in the operational assessment should be presented differently from one with uniformly high confidence.

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Resolution
`deal_not_found`	Deal ID does not exist in pipeline	Verify deal ID with `/ma-status`
`deal_not_active`	Deal is in closed or archived state	Reactivate deal or create new analysis
`insufficient_data`	Not enough data for requested analysis scope	Reduce scope or provide additional data sources
`intel_not_available`	No OSINT intelligence collected for target	Run `/investigate` on target first
`valuation_failed`	Insufficient financial data for valuation	Provide financial statements or use asset-based method
`peer_not_found`	Specified peer company not in database	Verify peer identifiers or use auto-selection
`timeout_exceeded`	Analysis exceeded configured timeout	Reduce depth or scope, retry with longer timeout
`confidence_below_threshold`	Analysis confidence below minimum	Collect additional data or lower threshold

Advanced Usage

Multi-Deal Comparative Analysis

Compare multiple acquisition targets simultaneously.

# Compare three potential targets
/ma-analyze --compare="DEAL-001,DEAL-002,DEAL-003" --scope=full --format=markdown

# Rank targets by strategic fit
/ma-analyze --compare="DEAL-001,DEAL-002" --ranking=strategic --output=comparison.md

Custom Valuation Models

Apply custom financial models to the analysis.

# DCF with custom assumptions
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --valuation=dcf \
  --discount-rate=0.12 --terminal-growth=0.03 \
  --projection-years=7 --margin-expansion=0.02

# LBO analysis with specific capital structure
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --valuation=lbo \
  --leverage-ratio=4.5 --interest-rate=0.065 --exit-year=5

Automated Pipeline Analysis

Integrate analysis into automated deal screening workflows.

# Screen all new deals with quick analysis
/ma-analyze --batch=new-deals --depth=quick --format=json --output-dir=screening/

# Weekly comprehensive update for active deals
/ma-analyze --batch=active-deals --update --depth=standard --format=json

Integration with External Data

Feed external financial data into the analysis engine.

# Import SEC filings
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --data-source=sec-10k-2025.pdf --scope=financial

# Import due diligence room data
/ma-analyze DEAL-2026-001 --data-source=vdr-export/ --scope=full

Doctrine Compliance

All commands operate under the NO MERCY, NO DOUBTS doctrine:

NO MERCY: Zero tolerance for incomplete execution or quality violations. Every analysis domain must produce findings or explicitly document why findings could not be produced. Partial analyses are not delivered -- all requested domains must complete.
NO DOUBTS: Full investigation before action, evidence-based results. Every financial projection, legal assessment, and strategic evaluation includes provenance, confidence scoring, and data quality indicators per NABLA requirements.

/ma-create - Create new M&A deal with target profiling and initial assessment
/ma-report - Generate detailed M&A analysis report with visualizations
/ma-dashboard - M&A deal pipeline dashboard with real-time status tracking
/ma-status - M&A deal pipeline status overview and progress tracking
/ma-enforce - M&A enforcement actions for deal compliance and deadline tracking
/investigate - Launch comprehensive OSINT investigation across 121+ sources
/email-osint - Email-based OSINT gathering with breach correlation and social profiling
/intel-export - Generate comprehensive intelligence packages for external LLM analysis

Connect & Contribute

Created by Tomáš Korcak (korczis) | Open Source under GHL

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