CASE STUDY
Business Sale
Unlocking Value in a Data-Challenged Business Sale
Industry
— Business Services
— Food Services
Duration
— 7 months
Team
— 1 Vice President
Services
— Sell Side Readiness
— FP&A Support
— Transaction Due Diligence
A private equity-backed business services company in the vending and catering industry was struggling to complete its sale due to significant financial and operational challenges. The company, had an understaffed finance team, disparate legacy systems, and incomplete post-acquisition integrations. These issues made it difficult for the investment banker to finalize materials and confidently take the business to market, even after a year of effort. We were brought in to act as the CFO’s strategic partner, managing finance and operational teams to extract, organize, and analyze the critical data needed to support the sale.
The Execution
We took a hands-on approach, identifying and structuring key analyses to strengthen the investment thesis and validate projections. This included:
Historical and Projected Site Conversion Analysis – Conducted an in-depth review of site conversions to higher-revenue locations, identifying key success factors and ranking non-converted locations to support growth projections.
Year-over-Year Same Store Growth Analysis – Demonstrated how new locations ramped up growth while highlighting the company’s shift toward higher-margin, resilient industry customers less affected by work-from-home trends.
Pricing, Volume, and Mix (PVM) Analysis – Distinguished revenue drivers by proving that post-COVID inflation was not the primary growth factor but rather the expansion of new customer sites.
CapEx and ROI Assessment – Evaluated capital expenditures to measure returns on conversion buildouts, new locations, and required maintenance investments.
Employee Compensation & Profitability Analysis – Allocated employees to specific units and geographies to right-size staffing and improve unit profitability while reducing corporate overhead.
Route Effectiveness Analysis – Provided a roadmap for operational improvements at newly acquired locations by integrating them into the corporate routing and logistics system.
The Results
The company successfully completed its sale despite an initially unstructured financial and data environment. We enabled the investment bank to focus on the transaction while handling finance team coordination and data management. Our ability to build structured data cubes and liaise with key company personnel facilitated an efficient diligence process, ensuring smooth execution and a successful exit.
Building Credibility & Justifying Multiples
A private equity-backed venue management company, was preparing for a sale, but its finance team lacked the expertise to handle the complex due diligence process. .
Streamlining Operations and Marketing Insights for a Successful Exit
A private equity-owned HVAC and plumbing company was preparing to go to market but needed robust data analysis to support the sale process.
