Agricultural Electronics Company
The Company
This private equity backed Edinburgh based Company had £0.5m invested in it over a 4 year period. The business provided state of the art sensor technologies to the dairy and agricultural industries. The company was developing 4 different products at the same time and had no strategic direction. The principal institutional shareholder wanted an exit but cash was very tight and the prospects of a trade sale were poor.
The Assignment
- Invited to join Board by Aberdeen Asset Management to increase shareholder value and sell the business
- Carry out a strategic review of the business, agree a strategy to secure investment, and secure a trade sale
The Plan
- Raise new private equity funding to refinance business
- Improve financial controls and cash management
- Focus product development strategy to achieve early sales
- Work with executive directors to achieve the best commercial deals with OEM's and key suppliers
- Identify and qualify potential trade investors from UK, Europe and New Zealand
- Secure second round funding to allow business time to finalise a trade sale.
The Results
- Sold cow milking vision system IP and patent for $1.5million to a US business
- Sold the rest of the company to an MBO candidate
- Final task was to handover business to a liquidator and return funds to shareholders
- Cash reserves returned to shareholders in late 2008
