Growing Rapidly Through Acquisition

A private-equity-backed consumer finance company had set its sights on expanding through the tuck-in acquisition of more than 100 bank branches from another key industry player. In order for the new, larger organization to be a success, company leaders would need to consolidate disparate business systems and processes, rebrand the existing branches and build capacity to serve more customers.

Approach

Separation And Integration

With a pending acquisition that would almost double the company’s size, its leaders knew that they needed a flawless integration process to keep business running as usual. They leaned on FCM for the experience and expertise to ensure a smooth transition. Our team was heavily embedded in the portfolio company from acquisition planning and design all the way through implementation. We deployed a release structure to migrate the acquired companies’ operations to their new owner’s core systems, and implemented our meticulous tollgate process to objectively track progress and mitigate risks. This detailed work paid off when the company transitioned all of the new locations at one time without a hitch, and was able to exit its Transition Service Agreements (TSAs) on time.

Scalable Technology

Upgrading the consumer finance provider’s loan origination system was another critical piece of its acquisition strategy. FCM helped determine that the existing platform lacked the functionality needed to support its new branches and future aspirations. Then we worked hand-in-hand with the portfolio company and a third-party developer to launch a bigger, better system. Our team provided program management to maneuver the complexities of transferring the multiple acquired branches to this new solution, while also overseeing governance for the broader migration.

Impact

With a successful acquisition under its belt and added flexibility in its business model, the portfolio company was poised for ongoing growth. FCM’s robust experience with consumer finance acquisitions and proven toolkit for system migrations helped bring this big win to life.