“Valitas was instrumental in Solvera's transformation. They worked as an integral part of our senior management team to drive our strategy while maintaining an agile footing.”
Jim Ostertag
Co-CEO
MEET SOLVERA
Solvera Solutions (“Solvera”) is a leading Canadian provider of IT enabled business solutions, delivering innovation and value to every client.
They have achieved high growth through a diverse portfolio of strategic solutions and managed services.
Having received a Strategic Assessment and Plan from Valitas, the partners requested Valitas’ support in executing the financings, acquisition program, and other strategic aspects of the plan.
BENDING THE CURVE
Solvera’s resolve to focus on value creation at the end of 2018 was a pivotal moment:
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
Valitas is providing ongoing strategic, financing, and acquisition program support to Solvera.
Valitas has also arranged four credit facilities to fund growth.
Growth companies can experience a virtuous financing cycle. Growth requires financing and as growth is delivered, it unlocks more financing capacity.
Managing this balancing act requires maintaining enough dry powder so that growth is not constrained.
Maintaining this flexibility requires careful sequencing.
As of mid 2021, Valitas has researched more than 500 acquisition targets, approached 37 of them, facilitating strategic dialogue with the owners of 54% of these companies.
MAINTAINING STRATEGIC READINESS
Valitas continually recalibrated the financial model to maximize forecasting accuracy by updating for actual results and reflecting balance sheet change.
This provided a 60 month view of credit availability and bank covenant headroom so we could anticipate future financing needs, ensuring the strategy isn’t hindered by lack of capital.
Valitas provided extensive support through the global pandemic to ensure minimal disruption.
Valitas facilitated standing weekly calls with senior team to ensure focus and progress.
Having at hand a sophisticated financial model and a professional presentation clearly articulating Solvera’s strategy established gravitas with acquisition targets and financing sources.
This also enabled Solvera to launch financing and acquisition processes in days instead of months.
ACQUISITION PROGRAM
To date, Valitas has: - Searched 504 potential acquisition targets. - Approached 37 of them. - Facilitated strategic dialogue with 54% of those approached.
Valitas developed an acquisition target scoring system with the senior management team to ensure strong strategic fit and focus on the most desirable targets.
At times, Valitas maintained strategic dialogue with more than 5 targets at the same time. - Sequencing and prioritization were required.
FINANCING THE VALUE CREATION PLAN
Over the first 18 months of its mandate, Valitas arranged four financings for Solvera:
“Valitas is providing ongoing strategic and financing support to Solvera, including arranging an undrawn acquisition financing facility to secure “dry powder” to fund the acquisitions and arranging separate credit facilities to fund our dramatic growth.”
