Preparing Your Company for Exit
CXO Partners provides the full continuum of sell-side CFO support, from early exit readiness assessment through closing. With $7B+ in client transactions and direct experience across 50+ M&A deals, we bring a level of M&A financial fluency that most companies cannot access without a full-time hire.
$7B+
Client Transactions
50+
M&A Deals and IPOs Supported
20+
Years of PE & M&A Experience
Sell-Side M&A Prep Services
Sell-side preparation is not just about organizing files in a data room. It is a proactive exercise in anticipating every question a sophisticated buyer will ask, ensuring your financial records can answer those questions clearly and consistently, and presenting your company's financial performance in the most compelling — and fully defensible — way possible. It requires a CFO who recognizes patterns, knows exactly what QoE firms look for, where deals get derailed, and how to prevent the issues that kill valuation.
Exit Readiness Assessment & Gap Remediation
Between 12 and 18 months before marketing, we identify and fix issues before a buyer does, including:
- Comprehensive Exit Readiness Assessment — financial records, controls, systems, and reporting
- Revenue Recognition Review — ensure ASC 606 compliance and defensible recognition policies
- Normalized EBITDA Analysis — identify and document all legitimate add-backs before QoE firms do
- Customer Concentration and Revenue Quality Analysis — understand what buyers will scrutinize
- Working Capital Analysis — establish the baseline and identify optimization opportunities
- Financial Controls Assessment — close the gaps that audit firms and buyers will flag
- Accounting System Cleanup — ensure historical financials are clean, consistent, and audit-ready
- Management Reporting Upgrade — build the reporting package that tells the right story.
Financial Story Development & Data Room Build
Between 6 and 12 months before marketing, we build the financial narrative and infrastructure for the sale process, including:
- Five-year financial model — historical performance plus forward-looking plan with clear assumptions
- Management case development — build the financial bridge from historical performance to projected growth
- KPI dashboard — develop the metrics story that supports the valuation narrative
- Data room architecture — design and populate the financial section of the data room
- Quality of earnings preparation — anticipate QoE findings and prepare detailed support schedules
- Sell-side QoE coordination — manage the relationship with the seller's QoE firm
- Lender model preparation (if applicable) — build the debt financing model for buyer financing
- Management presentation — develop the CFO-led financial section of the management presentation.
Transaction Execution
From active marketing through the Letter of Intent (LOI), we navigate the diligence sprint and protect valuation, including:
- Buyer financial Q&A management — respond to financial questions with speed, accuracy, and consistency
- Data room updates — manage the ongoing population and organization of financial materials
- IOI and LOI financial analysis — evaluate financial terms, working capital proposals, and valuation mechanics
- Management presentation delivery — present the financial story to potential acquirers
- Banker coordination — work alongside investment bankers on financial aspects of the marketing process
- Competitive process management — support the financial components of a competitive auction.
Definitive Agreement & Closing
Finally, from the LOI through close, we protect the purchase price through the final sprint, including:
- Buy-side QoE response — respond to buyer QoE findings with defensible analysis and documentation
- Working capital peg negotiation — establish and defend the appropriate working capital target
- Purchase price adjustment mechanics — model cash-free / debt-free adjustments, net debt, and true-up calculations
- Representation and warranty support — financial reps, disclosure schedules, and materiality thresholds
- Escrow and indemnification analysis — evaluate financial exposure under the indemnification structure
- Closing condition financial support — ensure all financial closing conditions are met on schedule.
Our Team
Chris Gwiazda
Mike Casey
Bill Keneally
Michael Levine
Mark Livingston
What our clients say about us
Within a highly challenging environment, CXO Partners was integral to the development of the strategy and execution of the tactics to protect, enhance, and then secure the value of RiceBran Technologies (NASDAQ - RIBT).
— Multiple Board Members
Our company was acquired by Oracle. [CXO Partners] was a key player in helping to get that accomplished. They are very much integrated into our leadership team.
— Diego Pantoja-Navajas,
Founder & CEO, Logfire
We leveraged [CXO Partners] CFO services to grow. They helped us package two businesses that led to successful M&A exits. I can’t recommend them highly enough.
— Alexei Rojanets, President & CCO, Aptitude Health
Insights
Next Steps
Review our team of experts or schedule a brief call. Once you schedule a call, one of our team members will contact you directly to learn more about your needs.