Baruch Esparza
Verified Expert in Finance
Management Consulting Expert
Dallas, TX, United States
Toptal member since April 26, 2022
Baruch is an accomplished finance and strategy executive with 20+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams. He led deal teams that executed more than $5 billion in both buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions for multiple fortune 500 companies. Baruch also has immense experience in post-transaction integration and corporate restructuring. Consulting provides him with the opportunity to leverage his expertise to help clients grow and increase profitability, while meeting new people.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Senior Director of Investment Banking Advisory
Epsilon Acquisition Services
- Completed due diligence and negotiated a deal between the seller, a Turkish private entity, and the buyer (client), a Canadian public entity, in the automotive industry, with an advantageous payment structure for the buyer.
- Closed a deal in Argentina under uncertain market conditions—the client was a small SAP consulting firm. Negotiated operating agreement between the buyer and seller to collaborate on new software development.
- Managed a chemical commodities project to repurpose their assets to produce specialty chemicals with minimal CapEx investment, which resulted in making two new products with gross margins up to 50% higher when compared with the previous product line.
- Led an IT healthcare company in India to successfully cross over to the US market with HIPAA compliance and be ready to raise funds with US investors.
- Served as the most seasoned M&A person in the team, assisting, teaching, and promoting managers, VPs, and analysts in the group. The result was that analysts came to managerial roles in less than 12 months.
Director of Strategy and Corporate Development
Lehigh Hanson
- Led a strategic analysis to identify and deliver strategic growth opportunities through mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, from deal origination to full integration.
- Implemented the M&A playbook for the S&D department, standardized processes and reports, streamlined operations, and improved the decision process. Reduced overall deals timeline by around 30 days.
- Improved the plan to integrate and operate new acquisitions, reducing the use of transitional services by 50%.
- Managed the business development for expansion into new countries.
Director of M&A
Walmart
- Led the processes for various projects (avg size $20-100 million), including eCommerce, licensing, partnership, divestitures, and adjacent opportunities in retail services. Advised leadership on some of the most critical decisions in the business.
- Created an eCommerce roadmap of a 5-year acquisition strategy, which was the stepping stone for Walmart's yearly double-digit growth in Walmart Marketplace with a spending budget of approximately $500 million for the year.
- Standardized the internal approval process to compare investment opportunities.
Manager of Business and Corporate Development
Iron Mountain
- Originated and led deals (grew pipeline), supported negotiations, created valuation models and approval memos, managed due diligence, and structured purchase agreements with a legal team. The average deal size was $25-100 million.
- Improved the corporate development department playbook by improving the reporting to keep track of due diligence issues with the closing memorandum, deal tracking, and deal retrospectives.
- Developed a scorecard and plan for new country or market entry in Asia and LATAM. Evaluated successful market entry into a new market in South America and Asia. Decided to enter the Asia market two years later, investing close to US$25 million.
- Created the board of directors' quarterly presentations, including pipeline, deal tracking, and approval memos. Spent a yearly budget of $150 million.
Finance Leader
Briggs Equipment
- Led the FP&A and reporting team for LATAM and the international M&A process, including competitive analysis, strategy, valuation, financial modeling, due diligence, monitoring deal progress, integration, and restructuring.
- Supervised the LATAM financial improvement project resulting in accurate financial reports, reduced time to close, issue resolution, and improved contract performance with Fortune 500 clients.
- Oversaw the restructuring and consolidation of redundant branches, saving $1.5 million in annual expenses.
Financial Analyst
Celanese Corporation
- Managed the financial accounting, reporting, and financial operations and prepared and reviewed monthly forecast and annual budget for one business unit with three locations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
- Performed a pricing and profitability analysis to evaluate new business opportunities resulting in realigning cost allocations and a $1 million profit increase.
- Prepared a benchmarking study for the finance department sponsored by the CFO. Improved the overall KPIs for internal audit, accounting, and FP&A departments.
Program Manager
Buzzi Unicem
- Managed the program activities for a $150 million new cement plant project, including initial project evaluation, planning, and developing objectives and priorities with clients and matrixed teams.
- Played a key role in reducing project budget overruns by 10% until final on-budget completion by negotiating with contractors to improve planning and schedule.
- Coordinated the labor among ten external contractors with a labor force of 1,000 workers on site. The project was completed ahead of schedule.
Education
Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
SMU Cox School of Business - Dallas, TX, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering
Tecnológico de Monterrey - Monterrey, Mexico
Certifications
Six Sigma Green Belt
Honeywell Automotive
Skills
Finance
M&A Modeling, M&A (Buy-side), M&A (Sell-side), Cross-border M&A, Project Finance, Budgeting, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Comparable Company Analysis, DCF Valuation, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Due Diligence, Market Research, Financial Modeling, Valuation, Forecasting, Profitability Analysis, Private Equity, Revenue & Expense Projections, Debt Structuring, Deal Advisory, Revenue Modeling, M&A Earn-out Agreements, Startup Funding, Equity Raises, Internal Audits, Pricing, CFO, Fundraising, Capital Raising
Geographic Expertise
United States
Industry Expertise
Retail & Wholesale, Consumer Products, Apparel & Accessories
Other
Finance, Strategy, Integration, Analysis, Project Management, Startup Consulting, Post-merger Integration, Investment Banking, Budget Modeling, Data Research, Post-Merger Integration, Transaction Comparables, Program Management, Project Budget Management, Restructuring, Leveraged Buyout (LBO), Due Diligence, Market Sizing, Business Strategy, Management Consulting, Business Modeling, Growth Strategy, Pitch Decks, Deal Structuring, B2B, Investments, Manufacturing, Business Modeling, Financial Statements, Shareholders' Agreement (JVA), Deal Review, Investment Strategy, Term Sheet Advisory, Microsoft Office, Process Design, Six Sigma, IP Valuation, New Business Development, Lean Project Management, eCommerce, Marketplaces, Fundraising Consultant, Excel 365, Financing, Go-to-market Strategy, Startups, SaaS, Supply Chain, SOX Compliance, Legal
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