Transformation to achieve sale to private equity
Summary
The opportunity
Nexant ECA was an energy and sustainable fuels consultancy with a global footprint.
Providing energy and chemical advisory services through consulting, insights and analytics to clients including the industry heavy hitters such as Exxon Mobile and energy ministers from around the world, enabling them to deliver world class comprehensive analytics, forecasts, and insights for the chemicals, polymers, energy and cleantech industries.
Part of it’s arsenal was an unrivalled, incredibly deep historical data asset which allowed them to provide startlingly accurate predictive modelling to allow clients to approach a level of certainty of the consequence of any future actions.
Really impressive capabilities.
Ambitious targets for 2028
However..
The Californian based owners were looking to sell.
Despite their best efforts, 5 attempts at sale had failed to go through.
Possible buyers were just not seeing the potential future value in the firm.
The new CEO Matt Bayfield asked me to put a team together to deliver a demonstration of the feasibility of reaching three ambitious targets by 2028
The company also had no marketing function whatsoever and relied on incoming enquiries to generate business.
I would become the organisation’s de facto CMO advising the CEO on all marketing matters.
The company also needed a new name.
Part of the deal for the previous sale was that the current company name and branding could only be used for another year and a half.
New leadership and the impending necessary change of name presented a unique opportunity.
A moment in time to revitalise the company around a new, exciting and compelling future-ready go to market proposition more reflective of market, cultural and societal shifts in attitudes and priorities.
To position the company as the go to consultancy to help clients navigate not just the now but the next as well.
To develop a bold ambitious growth plan to finally attract the right investor.
Future growth strategies
The initial approach
An 2 month in-depth discovery period followed by initial findings and recommendations for future growth strategies.
Areas of interest included:
Current position in the market
Strengths and weaknesses identified by clients
Current and future client requirements
Cultural and social pressures clients are facing
Market trends in chemicals and energy
Developing a brand new future facing positioning
Nexant’s ambition is perfectly aligned with the critical transition facing the energy and petrochemical sectors of moving from traditional to sustainable solutions driven by long term regulatory, cultural and social pressures. Leaving businesses in these sectors increasingly vulnerable if they get this transition wrong.
This transition would determine the source of future growth.
Clients knew that they had to make this transition, but were unsure of how to achieve it profitably
NexantECA was uniquely placed to bridge the gap between sustainable and traditional energy and petrochemicals
They bring to bear more accumulated energy/petrochemical wisdom, data, experience and smarts than any other consultancy
The unique data set means that they can leverage intelligence of the past to accurately model the future
This led us to a compelling new brand value proposition which positioned Nexant ECA as the solution to helping clients make this transition profitably.
The potential new name and visual identity perfectly supported and reinforced the value proposition
Driving growth
5 year plans were developed to drive towards the ambition of £100m enterprise value, and whilst (as we all know) those longer term plans would definitely change, the initial 12 months would be set in stone.
To drive growth around the 5 pillars of innovation
Product & Digital Transformation
Process & Operations
Language & Messaging
Behaviour and Culture
Future Ready Planning
Product & Digital Transformation
Restricting growth was Nexant ECA’s reliance on the consultancy model.
Dependent on highly skilled experts who are both hard to find and expensive to keep, a consultancy based organisation would find it impossible to scale at the speed necessary to reach the growth targets.
Our recommendation was to leverage ‘Digital Transformation’ to develop a licensable product or products.
After all, if you can create a product that you can sell to 2 people, then you can sell it to 2 million people.
The product was scoped, budgeted and planned .
Process and Operations
Streamlining operations is a proven way to improve effectiveness and deliver efficiencies.
Tools to help the organisation gear up to working at the pressure that was going to be necessary.
Language & Messaging
Communicating clearly, consistently and concisely the benefits of the new product(s) to the internal and external audience would be vital.
All members of staff would be trained to be able to deliver key messaging under any circumstance.
Every document, proposal, web page and press release must speak with one strong voice.
Behaviour and Culture
Success would rely on every individual in the organisation knowing:
What the purpose of the organisation is
The value that they add in delivering that purpose
That their contribution is appreciated and valued
The values that they share. What is acceptable and what isn’t
What is expected of them and what they can expect in return
Future Ready Planning
“Everybody has got a plan until they get punched in the face”
Delivering a plan is one thing.
Preparing an organisation to be able to react at speed when situations both internal and external change, often dramatically would be key to continuing to grow over the 5 year period.
Agility and adaptability are vital to long term success.
