Sector: Mining & Industrial Services
Transaction Type: Full business sale to domestic strategic acquirer
Location: Western Australia

Client Profile

A second-generation, family-owned business providing specialist maintenance and shutdown services to Tier 1 miners across the Pilbara and Goldfields regions. The business held long-term contracts with major producers, operated a fleet of specialised equipment, and employed over 60 staff across two depots.

Challenge

The owner sought a full exit ahead of retirement but faced significant challenges in preparing the business for sale. These included:

  • Lack of formal financial reporting and normalised earnings view
  • Key-person risk and informal management structure
  • Heavy reliance on a few large clients
  • No internal capacity to run a structured sale process or engage buyers

Cavari’s Role

Cavari was retained as sole advisor to lead the entire sell-side process. Our scope included:

  • Business normalisation and financial model development
  • Contract review and customer concentration analysis
  • AI-powered buyer identification across industrial services and mining sectors
  • Creation of investor materials and data room
  • End-to-end negotiation and deal structuring

Strategic Approach

Cavari began with an intensive business diagnostic and transaction readiness program, including workforce mapping, asset register verification, and contract analysis. A normalised EBITDA figure was established, adjusting for owner-related costs and project-based revenue volatility.

We used Cavari’s AI buyer engine to identify regional consolidators and ASX-listed mining services companies seeking vertical integration or regional scale. A tightly controlled process was run with five acquirers shortlisted and NDAs secured within two weeks.

We negotiated a structured acquisition with partial upfront cash, performance-linked deferred consideration, and retention mechanisms for key staff.

Outcome

  • Sold to a mid-sized mining contractor with complementary footprint
  • 8.1x normalised EBITDA achieved (above industrial services median)
  • Full founder exit within 90 days of completion
  • Workforce retained with minimal disruption
  • Deferred consideration tied to operational continuity and client retention

Strategic Insight

In asset-heavy, contract-based industries like mining services, unlocking value requires transforming operational complexity into investor-grade clarity. Cavari’s structured approach translates operational excellence into real exit value, even in environments with legacy systems and informal governance.