Investment theses and value creation
frameworks at operating level.

Investment theses and value creation frameworks only hold at the operating level — where pricing, commercial execution, working capital and management cadence determine whether EBITDA follows the model. Investment work and value creation support from Scott Foster — an operator who has carried the P&L across industrial and distribution businesses. Developed across industrial, manufacturing and distribution platforms — focused on identifying and executing EBITDA expansion through pricing, working capital, operating cadence and commercial control.

Detailed materials, financial models and execution frameworks are available in active discussions under NDA.

These are not case studies.
They are operating partner-level investment theses — built to be executed, not presented.

Case 01

Industrial Distribution Platform

Australia · Multi-Branch · PE-Backed

Situation

Century-old, multi-branch distributor facing margin pressure, supplier disintermediation and inconsistent execution across the network. Revenue stable. EBITDA compressing. Management reporting insufficient to diagnose the drivers.

Operator Insight

“Most distributors compete for the order. Value is created by owning the job before the order exists.”

Execution Model

01 Phased rollout across national branch network with dedicated transformation capability at each site

02 Governance reset — decision rights, reporting cadence, and branch accountability approach

03 Incentive realignment to margin outcomes, not revenue volume

04 Operating partner embedded at board level through transformation period

Value Creation Plan

01 Pricing discipline and margin architecture — floor pricing, freight recovery, discount control

02 SKU and supplier consolidation — reducing complexity, improving terms and inventory turns

03 Pipeline ownership and demand visibility — moving upstream in the customer decision process

04 Working capital optimisation — inventory reduction, debtor discipline, supplier terms

05 Branch network rationalisation — performance-based resource allocation

06 Operating cadence and governance — management systems that hold without the fund in the room

EBITDA Bridge

Pricing discipline & procurement improvement +$12m

Revenue uplift (wallet share & pipeline ownership) +$8m

Operational efficiency & cost discipline +$4m

Total EBITDA Uplift +$24m

HOW THIS WORK IS USED -->

How This Work Is Used

Built to be executed.
Not presented.

These investment theses are developed as part of ongoing work across private equity, founder-led and complex industrial businesses. They represent live thinking — not archived case studies.

Each thesis includes a situation assessment, operator insight, value creation plan, EBITDA bridge and execution model — structured for immediate deployment, not for presentation.

→ PE firms assessing industrial deal opportunities in ANZ and APAC
→ Boards and chairs considering a performance turnaround or strategic reset
→ Founders preparing for investment or exit who want to understand what a buyer will see
→ Investors seeking an operating partner who can identify and execute value creation — not just analyse it

Discuss an Opportunity →

Next Step

Value creation in a PE-backed business is decided in the operating model — in the first 90 days and across the hold period. The investment thesis is only as credible as the execution architecture underneath it.

Go to next step: First 90 Days View full sequence

Shape Executive Operating Architecture