Circumstances:
- Within a financial restructuring process, a European printing group agreed to sell a printing plant, located in the South West of France. This plant was organized as a business unit.
- We were asked to organize the business unit as a stand alone firm, supported by its own management and being able to organize, progressively, its own business activities.
- We were also asked to identify the right strategic partner, as a new shareholder, able to support the newly formed company on the long term
Assignment objectives:
- Four main objectives were defined for the interim management team of 2 managers
o Assess the existing management team and suggest any additional manager to run the company and help the management team to becoming shareholder of the new company.
o Organize support activities (HR, IT, finance) into independent resources
o Set up a commercial organization. Secure competitive agreements with suppliers.
o Identify a strategic partner, after having prepare a business plan with the management
Management approach:
- The 2 interim managers:
o They worked intensively with the management in order to allocate the skills (general management, production & logistics, sales, finance/IT/HR)
o One of the interim managers focused on the existing commercial contacts and look for new opportunities while making the best use of the existing industrial resources: review of prices, new offers
o The business plan was agreed between the existing shareholder and the management: competitive conditions were agreed on paper supply and financial expenses linked to leasing agreements would be supported in the future by the existing shareholders.
Operational results:
- Within six months, the former business unit was organized to operate as a stand alone company
- The business plan showed that the company will generate free cash flows after months, while the workforce was reduced to 85 employees from 102
- A new shareholder agreed to purchase 75% of the company, through issuance of new shares, while the management received 25% of the outstanding shares. The new shareholder helped to increase the customer base, as it is specialized in color printing.