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Commercial Due Diligence That Stands Up in IC

Most diligence processes
identify risk.

Few clearly identify where value will be created — in private equity, EBITDA upside in industrial and distribution businesses is almost always operational, not financial.

I work alongside deal teams to assess performance, identify operational gaps, and define where EBITDA and cash can be materially improved post-acquisition.

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Available for buy-side diligence across Australia, New Zealand and APAC. Based in Melbourne.

Part of The Commercial Engine™ → EBITDA & Exit Value
Pipeline Pricing

Diligence should not just confirm the downside.
It should clearly define the upside.
That is where I focus.

What Most Diligence Misses

Validating the past.
Missing the future.

Traditional diligence is built to confirm assumptions and identify downside risk. That is necessary — but it is not sufficient for a deal team that wants to underwrite value creation with conviction.

Traditional diligence focuses on

  • — Validating historical financials
  • — Identifying risks and deal-breakers
  • — Confirming management assumptions

What it often misses

  • → Pricing leakage and margin opportunity
  • → Working capital inefficiency and release
  • → Execution drift across sites or branches
  • → Operating cadence and management capability gaps
The Operator Lens

Not what the business is.
What it becomes.

My focus during diligence is not just what the business is delivering today. It is what it could deliver under disciplined execution — and how quickly. That judgement comes from 25 years of P&L accountability in industrial businesses, not from a financial model.

  • 01

    Pricing Architecture Gaps

    Customer-level margin analysis that reveals where pricing discipline has broken down — and what recovery is achievable.

  • 02

    SKU Complexity

    Product tail analysis identifying where margin is being diluted by complexity — and the inventory release available from rationalisation.

  • 03

    Branch Inconsistency

    Performance variance across sites that signals structural execution problems — not market conditions.

  • 04

    Operating Cadence

    Management systems, reporting discipline and decision rights — and whether the business can execute consistently at scale.

Most deal teams see the business as it is.
I focus on what it becomes after intervention.

What I Actually Do

Working alongside
the deal team.

I embed with the deal team during diligence — assessing the operational reality of the business from the inside. Site visits, management interviews, commercial data and operational systems. Not a desktop review.

  • → Identify EBITDA upside and quantify the opportunity
  • → Assess operational execution risk — not just financial risk
  • → Validate margin sustainability at customer and product level
  • → Highlight working capital release available post-acquisition
  • → Build the operational component of the value creation plan
What This Enables

Deal teams that move
with conviction.

Outcome 01

Underwrite value creation with confidence

Specific, quantified upside — not generic assumptions. EBITDA improvement modelled from operational reality, not from comparable transactions.

Outcome 02

Move faster with operational conviction

Judgment on execution risk and management capability that accelerates IC decision-making with clarity, not just comfort.

Outcome 03

Identify risks others miss

Operational issues that don't appear in financial models — branch inconsistency, pricing fragility, management dependency — assessed from the inside.

Outcome 04

Build a clearer post-acquisition plan

A 100-day operating plan grounded in diligence findings — not built after close. The value creation thesis defined before the deal is signed.

Work Together

If you have a deal in diligence
and want an operator's view.

30-minute call. Scott will tell you directly whether the engagement makes sense and what it would look like.

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