When I founded CFO & More, a key, if rather counter intuitive, tenet of the business plan was to implement systems and structures for our clients as well as providing support, training and mentoring of internal resource, which would make the client as self-sufficient as possible and thus reduce our own fees.
Perhaps even more surprising was our aspiration to help clients grow to a size where they did not need us at all or, ideally, where so much value had been created that we could advise on attracting third party investment or a sale, thereby crystalising the goodwill created by the shareholders.
If, at CFO & More’s inception, we had created a hypothetical case study to demonstrate what we wanted to achieve, it would have looked just like Delta!
Embedding ourselves within the client’s business and board:
From initial discussions with Delta it was clear that they would be an ideal candidate for our services; a company with a great proposition, good people and a strong desire by all to move the business from an SME family type concern to a “grown up” corporate.
CFO and More was perfectly placed to support this transition, adding high quality, experienced board resource with an excellent track record of growing businesses and building governance structures. During our time with Delta, our focus included:
· Restructuring corporate, financial and board reporting to allow focus on the business drivers that really affected performance and growth;
· Instilling board and governance discipline and expertise, including by providing independent challenge and evaluation to projects and proposals as well as embedding fundamental oversight in areas such as risk management;
· Adding critical domain experience;
· Identifying knowledge gaps and bringing in key senior executive resource to further develop the capability of the Board and business;
· Focusing the team on the Cost to Development to Revenue dynamic and the importance of both measuring delivery and ensuring clear lines of accountability;
· Mentoring the management team on strategy and planning; and
· Creating and implementing a comprehensive five-year business plan in collaboration with all senior players in the business, ensuring ownership and responsibility for its delivery.
The value of this input to the business was demonstrated when we guided Delta to achieving a successful sale to industry leading multi-national FinTech group, Bravura Solutions. This is where the CFO & More / Delta tie-up has become the perfect full-cycle story.
Crystallising value growth
With its breadth of M&A experience, CFO & More provided oversight and management of the sales project as well as strong leadership of the constructive, commercial and pragmatic engagement between Delta as sellers and Bravura as buyers. CFO & More’s contribution was recognised by both sellers and buyers, as can be seen in their testimonials.
CFO & More’s project activity included:
· Creating a comprehensive business plan integrating product development, market, sales and resource planning into robust financial forecasts;
· Producing a Teaser to encourage investor and acquirer interest;
· Developing a comprehensive IM document to further inform prospective investors and acquirers;
· Collating, analysing and comparing indicative offers received from numerous interested parties, considering both financial and non-financial components of identify preferred partners to take forward to due diligence;
· Populating and managing the comprehensive virtual data room;
· Managing the due diligence process, including attending and facilitating meetings and supporting seller and buyer engagement throughout the process, as well as administering the Q&A facility in the virtual data room;
· Working alongside the Seller and Buyer’s legal teams to offer detailed, constructive input into and challenge of the Share Purchase Agreement; and
· Full management of the Share Sale project.
What we can do for you
If you or an associate wish to add real value, either through profit growth or helping to develop your business into a “sale ready” proposition, please contact me directly on 07479 964923.
Alternatively, if you believe that your business is already sale ready or you are considering a business acquisition and you’re seeking experienced, expert guidance to achieve your aspirations, again please call me directly 0n 07479 964923.
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