Utility Services
Customer & Market Due Diligence of Electric Utility Services Company: Assessing Customer Risk, Margin Sustainability, and Growth Opportunities
Conducted 4-week phased customer & market due diligence to evaluate revenue and margin sustainability risk vis-à-vis the target’s core business and assess geographic expansion opportunities required to create a super-regional player. Developed bottom-up CapEx and Operations & Maintenance spend model of 25 key utilities, including 10-year projections; interviewed 30+ key stakeholders at the target’s top customers and potential customers; conducted detailed analysis of the target’s jobs database and forecast; and conducted extensive primary and secondary research. Based on Gotham’s findings, our PE client significantly revised down their bid and was able to secure the target at a more favorable valuation, with a top-level expansion strategy in-hand.
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Customer & Market Due Diligence of Municipal/Utility Services Company: Deciphering a Niche Market to Validate Target’s Growth Plan
Conducted 4-week customer and market due diligence to: (1) establish municipal budget outlook; (2) establish market size and growth outlook for wastewater infrastructure services; and (3) understand the target’s competitive positioning. The effort included: 124 interviews with municipal and utility officials; in-depth research of environmental regulations; top-down/bottom-up municipal budget analysis; and creation of 3 bottom-up marketing sizing models. Gotham’s comprehensive, fact-based approach verified that the target’s aggressive growth plans were realistic and the target had established a strong reputation with its customers. This allowed our PE client to gain confidence in the target’s ability to meet its revenue plan and move forward with the acquisition.
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Operational Due Diligence of An Entrepreneurial Specialty Engineering Services Firm: Instilling Process Discipline Required for Future Growth While Sustaining Performance-oriented Culture
Conducted operational due diligence to assess the firm’s prospect-to-cash cycle processes and establish a revenue forecasting approach. Our effort included: building a robust fact base of the company’s cost and operational performance using data from ERP and offline database; mapping and assessing sales & marketing, revenue generation, and people management processes; and visiting/interviewing management across multiple offices. Gotham provided an explicit top-level operations end-vision and value creation plan bolstering the company’s ability to support growth, giving our client the necessary confidence to successfully complete negotiations.
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Customer & Market And Operational Due Diligence Of Leading Propane Distributor: Determining Branch-level Margin Expansion Opportunities And Market Position
Conducted 2-week customer & market and operational due diligence to: validate capture of pricing and operating efficiencies at acquired companies; establish local market dynamics and target’s competitive positioning; and assess regulatory and substitution threat. Gotham: surveyed ~750 propane consumers in target’s service areas; identified/profiled key competitors and conducted 32 competitor interviews in target’s local markets; analyzed zip-code-level propane supply, consumption, pricing, and heating degree day trends; determined pricing optimization and segmentation opportunity; assessed substitution threat from natural gas, electricity, and heat pumps; and analyzed pricing, delivery, and backoffiice expenses at 25+ acquisitions. Comfortable with the target’s opportunity to acquire family-owned local propane distributors and capture pricing/operations improvements, our client was able to move forward with an aggressive but well-informed bid.
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Customer & Market Due Diligence Of Electric And Gas Utility Contractor: Establishing Market Size, Competitive Positioning, And Margin Sustainability
Conducted 3-week customers & market due diligence to establish the target’s margin sustainability, reputation, competitive positioning, and growth opportunities. To this end, Gotham: performed a utility-specific spend and competitive dynamics assessment leveraging data from 30 utilities in 8 states; conducted interviews with key transmission and distribution executives at top customers; carried out a state-by-state deep dive to develop a competitive landscape and profile key competitors; and analyzed the target’s financial data to establish a margin profile by division, state, and project size. Gotham’s utility-by-utility assessment of the target’s current and expansion markets provided our client with clarity on the target’s margin sustainability, competitive positioning, and growth opportunities, allowing them to pursue the target aggressively.
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Customer & Market Due Diligence Of Engineering Consulting Firm: Validating Market Opportunity To Create A Super-regional Player
Conducted a 4-week customer & market due diligence of an engineering consulting firm to confirm that the target was a solid platform with acquisition targets available to create a super-regional player. To this end, Gotham: conducted 100+ interviews and 100+ online surveys with engineering services customers; built a bottom-up market sizing model using Dodge construction activity data to establish market growth trends and market share by end-market and state; backtested the target’s sales mix to determine potential impact of a recession on the target’s business; and analyzed over 1,475 engineering services firms to identify 110 potential acquisition targets. Gotham’s comprehensive assessment provided our client with the facts and comfort level necessary to compete aggressively in a hotly-contested auction.
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