Azimuth Partners received a request from the bookkeeper of a Butcher business. The business had been newly acquired but the business acquisition was not a normal acquisition. There was no real due diligence done on the business and there were some false representations made by the seller of the business to the purchaser, which ultimately motivated the purchaser to buy the business.
Azimuth Partners were called to do a feasibility assessment. Some issues we explored were about understanding whether the business was what was represented in the sale memorandum. The issue in this case was, it was close but there were some significant assumptions that were taken in the sale memorandum for numerous reasons, which meant that the business really was not what was represented. Unfortunately, it was too late as the business had been bought. So, we had to go along the path of running the business. While there is recourse available through legal avenues, the business needed to keep running in the interim period.
We did a feasibility assessment on the business and pointed out some issues for the owner at the time. Unfortunately, the owner was highly stressed out during that process. So, we were challenged in a situation where the business was without an owner, a spouse interstate, and the business had to keep running.
From that point forward, Azimuth Partners took a caretaker mode on the business and assisted with some day-to-day operations. Later, as the wife of the owner was ready to take over, we began setting a business plan to turn the business around and make the business function as a normal business should function.
New actions implemented
We implemented a range of actions such as new systems and controls, changing the culture of the business, and changing the customer platform, the quality and service aspects of the business.
The business has been through the hardest phases of its time, but Azimuth Partners were able to drag the business away from that and grow it as a business would expect to grow.
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