EBITDA Protection & Post-Acquisition Risk Containment for $45M Portco
How HR Surgeons LLC audited, standardized, and restructured Employee Relations across a multi-state workforce, protecting the investment thesis for a major sponsor.
Immediately following a $45M control acquisition, the Private Equity sponsor discovered severe labor code non-compliance across three manufacturing facilities. Missing signed handbooks, unmanaged performance timelines, and key leader attrition threatened initial EBITDA targets.
The portfolio company lacked a professional, objective progressive-discipline framework. Supervisors were conflict-avoidant, leading to sudden, poorly documented separations and creating active retaliation liabilities.
The Surgical Intervention
The sponsor deployed our **Portco EBITDA Protection Retainer** across the asset. HR Surgeons immediately completed an intensive Employee Relations Risk Audit of all policies, job descriptions, and arbitration filings, identifying 14 critical multi-state compliance vulnerabilities.
We established a secure, anonymous third-party whistleblower portal and initiated sub-2-hour emergency advisory SLA response times for first-line supervisors. Our team audited and calibrated every active Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), ensuring objective metrics, and ran custom progressive-discipline workshops for 18 managers.
Prognosis & Business Value Retained
Within 6 months of deploy, human capital risk dropped to zero unmanaged claims. Supervisor voluntary attrition decreased by 45%, saving estimated recruiting costs of $180,000. Five high-risk employee separations were successfully and legally executed with zero subsequent administrative or court actions.
Our monthly Portfolio Risk Scorecard reports provided the PE operating partner with clear, board-ready evidence that human risk was fully containerized, protecting portco margins and directly defending the exit valuation thesis.
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