Asia-based investment fund turned to Everest Group for support in assessing a U.S. based asset in a niche segment

Executive Summary

The client was an Asia-based fund with a strong focus and track record in global ITeS/BPO investments. The management team comprising of industry veterans had developed a thesis of building a scalable BPO business to serve the yet untapped mid-market organizations. As a starting point, it had identified a platform based, finance & accounting outsourcer (FAO) for potential investment.

The Client’s Challenge

The client, a PE investment fund wanted to invest in a niche, on-shore F&A asset with a platform based proposition. This sub-US$1 billion segment barely had any research available to support a decision process. These challenges made it imperative that the client engage an external advisor that had prior experience in this space.

Insight to Action

The client turned to Everest Group to test its hypothesis and to validate the soundness of the asset to serve as a starting point for its vision. Specifically, they asked Everest Group to do the following in context of driving the holistic market and commercial diligence:

• Assess the attractiveness of the mid-market for FAO
• Perform competitive assessment
• Evaluate the asset’s business, commercial structures and proprietary technology platform
• Build a five-year business plan post acquisition

The fund turned to Everest Group for a unique combination of understanding of the outsourcing business, proprietary research on the mid-market and due-diligence expertise. Everest Group’s experience advising customers of the target proved critical in creating confidence with the Investment committee. Additionally, Everest Group was able to bring a forward-looking perspective on key issues like role of technology and new commercial models in BPO and this helped drive quick alignment on the business plan.

Impact

The investment thesis was approved by the fund’s investment committee and the acquisition was completed in Q1 2011. Further, Everest Group helped the management build a business plan and sales model to drive 8X growth in five years.