CASE STUDY B - Advent International
(Contact - Ralf Huep / Tom Spinner)
Company carved out of a large global German multinational conglomerate and sold to PE Group
SITUATION GOING IN
- Company in pre-carve out status and company driven by large German multinational culture.
- Hard working but inexpierenced and unfocused finance team with many key skillsets missing and much knowledge in the hands of very few employees.
- Finance Department not “involved” in the business.
- Financial Systems provided by the Group and needed to be implemented for an independent company.
- Financial Reporting unstable and inaccurate.
- No liquidity reporting as it was previously done at Group Level. Little focus!
- Management reporting not suited to stakeholder requirements.
- Difficult to hire new people due to uncertainty of the future.
SITUATION ONE YEAR LATER
- Carve out from Group fully completed.
- Organisation redesigned and trained intensively (minimum new hires). Up and running within 6 months.
- Management reporting overhauled and redesigned for standalone company purposes for selling process.
- Monthly Closing Timeline reduced aggressively.
- Treasury Department set up with weekly liquidity reporting as well as interest and currency position reporting.
- Global Cash Pooling Implemented and Covenant tracking and forecasting tool implemented.
- Working Capital Reduction by 5 % of Sales.
- Developed a 5 year plan and proforma historical figures for the previous years as if company was operating on a stand alone basis from then onwards.
- Developed with the CEO and management team a comprehensive Information Memorandum for the selling process.
- Developed and presented the management plan to potential buyers. The company was bought after 18 months by Advent and restructured with myself as CFO and Dr Markus Peterseim as CEO (now Partner Boston Consulting Group Frankfurt and recommended contact).
