Good numbers, never tested.
The company makes precision components for automotive and electronics customers from three plants. It had been profitable for decades, but its accounts were prepared for tax, not for buyers, and spread across three legal entities with different year-ends.
- 38years of family ownership
- 3entities with separate books
- 0prior external diligence
The founder’s children wanted a clean exit and a buyer who would keep the plants and the workforce. Their bankers warned that without independent numbers, bidders would discount for every unknown and chip the price at confirmatory diligence.
The owners also wanted the process kept confidential from staff and customers until a buyer was chosen.
Answer the buyer's questions before they ask.
A small sell-side team worked with the family, its bankers and the company's finance director, with weekly calls across three time zones.
- 01
Normalise the earnings
We combined the three entities onto one year-end and built an EBITDA bridge that explained every adjustment.
- 02
Build a clean data room
We organised 1,900 documents, wrote the vendor diligence report and answered 640 buyer questions within two business days.
- 03
Hold the price
We prepared management for each buyer session and closed the issues most likely to be used to chip the price.