Interim Project Manager - PE Portfolio Company, Pharmaceutical Industry

The Client 

A mid-sized private equity portfolio company was preparing for a planned exit. The company had been owned for more than 5 years and numerous value enhancement measures had been successfully implemented. The market environment for a sale was favorable and the general valuations were attractive.

The private equity company had a great interest in achieving what it considered to be a fair price. There was interest from PE investors and strategic interested parties who could strengthen their market position with the purchase of the company.

The Challenge 

The company to be sold was very lean and had a relatively young team in the finance department that had never gone through an exit process. At the same time, numerous other projects were running, such as an ERP implementation as well as projects for process enhancement, which should lead to more transparency in controlling and continue to run as unhindered as possible during the due diligence period.

In order to achieve the best possible price, the company wanted to professionally involve several potential interested parties in the bidding process in parallel. The relevant information for the interested parties was to be professionally prepared. A basic prerequisite for this was the immediate availability of as many relevant contracts, data, and answers to anticipated questions as possible.

Current business should be disrupted as little as possible and continue as usual.

The Solution 

• Analysis of the existing data, processes, and systems in view of the exit readiness for a possible company sale
• Creation of a target concept
• Systematic planning and implementation of the necessary measures
• Preparing a virtual data room and ensuring rapid response phases
• Development of an archive system for efficient filling of the virtual data room
• Successful support in vendor due diligence through structured handling of all issues and considerable relief for operational management
• Professional support during the sales phase
• Definition of internal "Exit Team" including communication of information flow
• Main contact for consulting companies in the

Vendor due diligence framework (Financial, Commercial, Tax, Environment-Health & Safety, Governance, Legal)

• Coordination of Q&A sessions as part of the exit process and subsequent refinancing
• Ensuring the protection of trade secrets and compliance with the requirements of GDPR

The Results 

The PE company was able to select an attractive buyer from several interested parties. The process was professionally prepared and the upcoming questions could be answered with short turnaround times satisfactorily.

Due to the professional implementation, all time milestones were met throughout the entire sales process. It was possible to "very much satisfy" a demanding group of bidders with the information provided (feedback from PE company). The request for expert sessions could be met above average per bidder. In addition, the transaction was completed approximately seven weeks before the originally scheduled date.

The exit readiness function as a central interface between the company and the consulting firms ensured the harmonization of information. The additional time consuming challenges for the operating management - typical for a sales process within such an exit project - were "significantly reduced" by the support provided by the experienced Interim Project Manager (feedback management).