Ablona was contacted by a company that delivers Web Solutions and System Integration. They realized the difficulty being a small supplier to large companies and organizations, facing demands for larger capacity and competitive offerings.
The company had grown to around 20 employees and had mostly got a foothold due to a own proprietary solution that now faced a test by larger standard products. The owners and management felt that they were too small to deliver as advanced solutions as they did. They wanted to be part of a larger company that increased the chances to win new business when approaching large clients.
We were was assigned to find a suitable acquirer and a few month after the process was initiated the 2008 financial crisis struck. Despite the crisis, the buyer, a listed European ICT company, followed through on the deal. The key reason was that our process had given them a clear picture of why this company would contribute to their strategy. Being a part of the bigger company helped the Web Solutions company to increase their margin and score a full earn out payment.
Lesson learned : Finding the right acquirer, not just the best money, turned out to be important. Now several years later it turned out to be an important career step for the management and owners. I.e. the CEO is now part of the management team of a 20 times larger organization.