The company instructed Greif & Co. to contact only strategic buyers, as this would provide the company access to C-suite executives for Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, thus limiting the universe of prospective buyers and eliminating private equity firms entirely. We crafted a process that highlighted key attributes of the company that would most appeal to potential strategic buyers:  recognized market leader; highly scalable products and services; significant recurring revenue stream from licensing HR software; major growth opportunities in a large, virtually untapped market; substantial potential revenue synergies; strong barriers to entry; and compelling financial performance.

Executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles acquired Senn Delaney for over $80 million―nearly three times revenue―a strong valuation for a management consulting firm, one that significantly exceeded our client’s expectations. We painted a picture for the buyer that showed them how Senn Delaney could help them positively influence the success of their C-suite placements and provide a recurring revenue stream to offset the otherwise transactional nature of the executive placement industry. Senn Delaney tracked nicely against budget during the course of the transaction which strengthened our hand in negotiating a transaction which materially exceeded the acquirer’s initial value indication.

Going in, we understood that it is common for buyer valuations to “fall down in diligence” and decline significantly from the initial indication to signing of the transaction throughout the diligence process―employing the philosophy that “the best defense is offense” on behalf of our clients, we achieved the exact opposite. In addition, we structured an earn-out component to the transaction to provide further upside to our client in the event that certain milestones were achieved―and they were, in full―thanks, in part, to the protections we negotiated into the definitive purchase agreement to ensure our client had a better than fair chance to achieve forecast without any changes in Senn Delaney management or the layering of any Heidrick & Struggles’ overhead costs on the company.