CASE STUDY
Interim M&A Specialist Supporting Sale Process
CHALLENGE
A $90m industrial services platform that provides cash management and security solutions to local and regional credit unions and banks entered the early stages of a sale process. At the same time, the company was closing an add-on acquisition that required rapid operational and financial integration.
- Leadership faced two parallel pressures:
- Prepare transaction-ready financials to withstand buyer diligence
- Integrate the add-on without disrupting performance or reporting integrityThe business required an experienced interim M&A leader who could operate in a transaction environment, coordinate across stakeholders, and ensure financial outputs were both accurate and decision-ready under compressed timelines.
OUR ROLE
ETONIEN deployed an interim M&A specialist to serve as the central financial workstream lead during the sale process.
The ETONIEN professional partnered cross-functionally with:
- The private equity sponsor’s operating team
- Grant Thorton (Quality of Earnings provider)
- Investment banking intermediaries
- Internal accounting and operations teams
SOLUTIONS
Built a Transaction-Ready Revenue & Contract Model
Led the development and completion of a comprehensive active service contract waterfall model through November 2025, which included:
- Reconciling contract-level revenue drivers
- Validating evergreen contract assumptions
- Ensuring forward-looking revenue visibility
- Fully documenting model logic for auditability and transition
Structured Data for Quality of Earnings (QoE) Readiness
Proactively structured financial outputs in the exact format required by Grant Thornton to accelerate the QoE process, which included:
- Standardizing historical financial data for analytical consistency
- Aligning revenue, margin, and contract-level detail to diligence requirements
- Coordinating iteration cycles to minimize rework
- Acting as the primary liaison between management and the QoE team
- Reduced friction in the review process and positioned the company for a cleaner first draft of the QoE report
Created a Clean Handoff to Investment Bankers
- Once the QoE book progressed through draft iterations, ensured supporting schedules, models, and reconciliations were fully traceable and defensible
- This resulted in reduced banker follow-up cycles, improved buyer confidence in financial transparency, and minimized management distraction during outreach
OUTCOME
The engagement resulted in a fully documented, transaction-ready revenue model that accelerated the Quality of Earnings process and reduced iterative diligence cycles. By streamlining data delivery and maintaining reporting integrity during the concurrent add-on integration, we minimized management distraction and ensured financial transparency throughout the buyer review. The business ultimately completed a successful sale process, supported by clean financials and a well-coordinated transaction workstream.