Printer Friendly Version The LVA Process | Case Studies | Suggested Reading

The LVA Process

Phase I	Phase II	Phase III	Phase IV
Getting to Know your Business	Prepare Work Product	Develop & Review Target List with Seller	Letter of Intent & Confidentiality Agreement
Information Gathering	Review & Analyze Historical Financial's	Initial Contact with Prospect	Negotiation
Outside Research	Preparation of Pro forma Financial's	Coaching Seller on Interested Buyers	Due Diligence
Review Findings with Seller	Draft Descriptive Memorandum	Site Visits	Coordinate Legal

Case Studies

Case Study – this company was six-year-old consumer product manufacturer

After years of investment and unfulfilled promises the investors in this RI based consumer product company came to the realization that a re-examination of the strategy and execution potential of the company was needed. Sales were stuck at the mid-six-figure level and profits were negligible. We analyzed the markets and focused the company on an appropriate market segment. The company re-designed and extended its core product, reduced its manufacturing cost by more than 80% by several innovative strategies and retail prices were adjusted to achieve real volume. Marketplace credibility was restored with a trained sales force and empowered customer service function. As a result, sales grew to over $6-million within four years through wide distribution over several channels and brands. An initial unsolicited offer for the company was leveraged into to twice the price resulting in a well-respected global publicly traded company. Investors were amply rewarded for their commitment to save this company.

Case Study – integrator of advanced industrial water treatment technologies.

Sales of this $5-million Mass based privately held company were declining from a peak several years earlier and investors and management were becoming frustrated. The company was competing solely on price in a mature, regional market. The investors and management decided to explore options other than liquidation. While options were being pursued, the company implemented a plan to explore and bring in new technologies and stabilized its business level by entering new markets. A merger partner with established access to the medical diagnostic laboratory market was found enabling the company’s core competencies to be applied to a growth market. Instead of cents on the dollar liquidation, the company is now part of a new global business and flourishing by manufacturing proprietary products in a growth market.

Suggested Reading

“Mastering the Merger – Four Critical Decisions That Make or Break the Deal” by David Harding and Sam Rovit of Bain & Company, Inc. – Harvard Business School Press

Read this and you will learn that the most successful acquirers are companies, which make smaller deals all the time, that acquisitions are the growth engine of larger companies and how a well-schooled acquirer will evaluate a potential deal for your company. This is a great read and unlike most business books it is loaded with interesting case studies dealing with companies you know.

“The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century” by Thomas L. Friedman, Pulitzer Prize winning author and New York Times Foreign Affairs Columnist.

This is serious look at the new world and allows you to make sense out of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before your eyes. Friedman translates complex foreign policy and economic issues and explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. It’s a first step in re-inventing your company as you prepare for even more enabled competition.