Situation: Preparing to Find & Execute a Strategic Exit 

Quicken steel, a steel building component manufacturer in Claxton, GA, was experiencing exponential growth for five years, outperforming competitors by five to seven percent. The company decided to seek opportunities for a strategic exit. Quicken Steel sought expertise to prepare for and assist in executing this exit. The company lost its financial controller at the very beginning of this process, and though they hired a replacement, that person quit after a few weeks. This left the company in great need of financial leadership.

Based on the recommendation of his CEO Coaching Intl. coach, the owner of Quicken Steel reached out to Preferred CFO. Preferred CFO assigned Don Calcote, who specializes in mergers and acquisitions, as the fractional CFO for the client. At Don’s recommendation, the owner also brought in David Guyaux and Julie Thackeray to run the accounting department.

Approach: Organization, Optimization, & Analysis

To help the company prepare for acquisition, Don and his team took the following course of action:

1. Gathered and reviewed all the company’s financial records
2. Got all financials caught up and back in order
3. Analyzed the current financial position of the company
4. Prepared five-year financial projections, based on historical and current trends
5. Delved into the nuances of the company’s manufacturing processes and recommended strategic improvements
6. Worked hand-in-hand with the owner, meeting as many as 8 times per week to discuss strategies and improvements
7. Provided financial models and analyses to show investors at a week-long series of management presentations where Don handled the Financial Presentations. This information helped them get offers from five potential buyers.
8. Researched and answered investor questions. In one case Don spent an entire day addressing a single question. The potential buyer upped its offer by almost $5 million.
9. Helped the company’s owner evaluate offers and select the best strategic exit opportunity

Results: Strategic Sale

With five potential buyers, Preferred CFO helped Quicken Steel evaluate and negotiate the best opportunity for a profitable and strategic sale.

“Preferred CFO is a first-class organization who stepped up to the challenge for my company when we were going through a major transition. They ultimately ran our accounting department and prepared financials for the sale of the business. This was a very complex operation that was handled with grace and professionalism. I would highly recommend Preferred CFO to anyone looking for top shelf outsourced CFO services!” – Jonathan Sherrill, President, Quicken Steel

About Quicken Steel

Quicken Steel, based in Claxton, Georgia, manufactures steel building components and steel building kits that are shipped all across the United States. Typically, the buildings are used for industrial and commercial purposes such as factories and car dealerships, but there is an increasing market in packages to be used as homes. The company makes and supplies in kit-form every component required in the building from the bolts on up.

Clients can use the company’s proprietary software to design a building and their design is then reviewed and corrected by a licensed engineer. Kits are packaged complete with drawings and shipped to the building site where the customer uses local contractors to handle the assembly the building and the required plumbing, electrical wiring, and HVAC as well as the internal buildout.

Learn more about Quicken Steel at https://www.quicksteelbuildings.com

About the Author

Don Calcote has over 40 years of experience as CEO & President, Chief Financial Officer, and Senior Commercial Lender in the banking industry. Don’s extensive experience and historical success in seeing a business through all stages of growth brings expert perspective and insight to companies in a wide variety of industries.