The Situation

A private equity sponsor acquired a North and Latin American ingredients business from a multinational parent. The transaction valued the business at $1.7B with manufacturing operations across the region and 1,700 employees.

The deal required full separation at close with no transition service agreements. The business would need to operate entirely independently from day one, with no fallback to the parent. But independence did not mean a clean break. Twenty-year supply contracts were agreed in both directions, binding the two organisations together long after the transaction closed. Both parties needed confidence that the operational relationship would be stable.

The separation centred on a single global SAP instance. The acquired business covered North and Latin America, but the parent's operations in Europe and Asia Pacific ran on the same system. The cutover would affect all regions - ramp down and ramp up had to be coordinated globally without disrupting the parent's continuing business. Discovering gaps after close, when the parent had no obligation to help and a long-term commercial relationship was at stake, would leave both sides exposed.

We recommended proving standalone capability before committing. Run the business independently for two full monthly cycles prior to legal close. Surface any gaps while there was still time and leverage to address them.

Our Approach

We led the operational stand-up. A dedicated separation lead served as a single point of accountability across regions and time zones.

We isolated and sustained operations within the SAP environment, carved out manufacturing, finance and supply chain execution across multiple sites, and activated business functions that had never operated outside the parent company's infrastructure. The cutover was coordinated globally to protect the parent's continuing operations in Europe and Asia Pacific. Governance, delivery cadence and reporting lines were installed to maintain pace and surface risks early.

The proving period was not a simulation. The business ran live, under load, serving customers and managing supply chains while demonstrating it could operate without the parent - and alongside them for the long term.

The Results

The business ran independently for 60 days without disruption. Manufacturing, finance and global supply chains remained stable throughout. The parent's operations continued unaffected. Close completed on schedule with no post-close stabilisation required.

The sponsor entered ownership with full visibility and confidence in standalone operations and the long-term commercial relationship with the seller.

The parent company's CEO called it the smoothest major transformation he had ever seen.