This whitepaper outlines four powerful strategies to amplify board meeting conversations during a time of economic volatility.
Can you answer this riddle: What’s the best exit strategy when a private company CFO seeks the following?
If you answered “sale to a private equity firm (or a strategic buyer),” we have a winner.
Join us June 6-8 at the CFO Leadership Conference East. Register today to receive 15% off your ticket using code CFOCOM15.
Of course, there are bonus points for any response that includes the more complete answer: While sale to a PE firm may solve for all of the above, the sales process is, nevertheless, incredibly daunting and rife with pitfalls. That’s true not only for first-time sellers, but even for CFOs who’ve been to the institutional owner rodeo before.
While we can’t simplify the process — it’s appropriately complex given its transformative effects on the business — we can offer the three most important steps a CFO can take to streamline the sale process and maximize valuation:
The PE investment thesis is predicated on opportunities to increase value through revenue growth, margin expansion, operational efficiencies, cost savings, or cash-flow improvement. A CFO that can speak the same language as potential new owners — by taking the lead in developing a value creation plan — lets those investors easily understand the trapped value in the business over the next five to six years.
Matt Marcus
Value-creation initiatives include both a focus on growth and operational contraction/efficiency. The former relates to both revenue growth (acquisitions, product expansion, the development of channel strategies, pricing optimization) and margin expansion (cost optimization, strategic sourcing, shared services). The latter addresses operational efficiencies (lean manufacturing, automation of processes, reduction of waste) and cash-flow improvement (demand planning, sale/leaseback of assets, managing payment terms).
The CFO should work with both the business and operating units to quantify the impact of each initiative over time on sales, contribution margin, EBITDA, and cash flow. The finance team should also develop tactical execution plans, appoint leaders, hold weekly status updates, and create feedback loops for each initiative.
Bottom line: A well-thought-out value creation plan (one which is not only developed from both a top-down and bottom-up perspective, but also includes the quantifiable financial impact of each initiative) will result in a more streamlined due diligence and a higher sale multiple.
During the sales process, it’s important that the company’s management presentation, operating metrics, and financial metrics all align to tell the same story. And how does a CFO help tell that story? Via a well-populated data room that not only includes metrics across all business and functional units, but also includes relevant key performance indicators and trend data. That data room will, at minimum, include “the story” for:
Here, it’s important to provide historical views of operating and financial performance down to the lowest common reporting factor. For example, a fully integrated manufacturing business can perform a pocket margin analysis to capture an accurate historical view of profitability. That analysis can be used to show profitability at the business unit, plant, product, SKU, channel, end market, or customer level and should reconcile with a company’s general ledger so that investors are comfortable that they’re viewing a complete set of transactional data.
Bottom line: A cohesive narrative (where operating and financial metrics are aligned with the pitch to investors) will build credibility during the due diligence process and save CFOs from spending valuable time and resources producing one-off analyses.
Sure, there’s a menu of traditional value-creation levers and opportunities that usually form the rationale or impetus for PE investment. But, there’s also a growing “other” category. Depending on a company’s positioning within an industry, a CFO may want to check that “other” box (and pursue a different exit strategy), by preparing detailed business cases that focus on non-traditional investment paths. Three potential scenarios are:
Using the business as a platform for a rollup strategy
Merging with another company to create product, operational, or cost synergies
Being purchased by a strategic buyer to gain entrance into new markets, geographies, or industry verticals
Bottom line: The preparation of qualitative and quantitative data-driven business cases to support the overall investment strategy will not only increase the likelihood of a sale, but will allow the CFO to focus on executing core business strategy instead of spending more time on due diligence.
Whether it’s due to a lack of time, resources, or internal team expertise, a CFO may overlook critical sale prep initiatives. But when CFOs understand the importance of speaking private equity’s language, telling a cohesive corporate story, and telling it in the context of broader market dynamics, they not only lay the foundation for a successful transaction, they grease the wheels for a faster, more favorable deal.
Matt Marcus is a Managing Director at Accordion, the private equity financial consulting and technology firm focused on the office of the CFO.
