David Neidhart, Finance Expert in Geneva, Switzerland
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David Neidhart

Verified Expert  in Finance

Finance Expert

Location
Geneva, Switzerland
Toptal Member Since
May 27, 2019

David’s helped SMEs raise $500+ million in debt and equity financing and managed 30+ buy & sell-side M&A transactions from inception to execution. He’s built strategic functions and plans for $10+ billion-revenue multinationals, fostered startup hypergrowth, and established middle-market companies. As a freelancer, David helps clients enhance their potential, develop ambitious objectives, and execute the steps necessary to achieve their targets.

Investment AnalysisBusiness DevelopmentExit StrategyCorporate GovernanceValuationMergers & Acquisitions (M&A)BudgetingDue DiligencePrivate EquityEquity ResearchFinancial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)Venture CapitalBank Investment ConsultantDerivativesFundraisingTransformationFinancial Strategy ConsultantsStrategic Planning ConsultingBusiness AnalysisRestructuring ConsultingIndustry

Career Highlights

Partner
Equilibre Invest
Managing Director
Sonnek
Strategist
Sterlinggrace Group

Education Highlights

Master's Degree
Sciences Po
Master's Degree
Geneva University

Certification Highlights

CFA Candidate, Level Two
CFA Institute

Case Studies

Work Experience

Swiss Actoria Consultant

2019 - PRESENT
Actoria
  • Served as primary Swiss representative, creating an exclusive global network of banks, accounting, and legal firms to source deals for a leading sell-side advisory firm.
Focus areas: Budgeting, Finance Strategy, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), M&A (Sell-side), Fundraising, Valuation, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Partner

2018 - PRESENT
Equilibre Invest
  • Acquired a Swiss enterprise for 4x EBITDA multiple, leading financing and structuring negotiations as well as preparing the LOI, the investment thesis, due diligence memorandum, and the sales and purchase agreements.
  • Raised bank funding for 70% of an investment, developing detailed cash flow forecasts and a strategic plan for the company to facilitate multiple borrowing options for the acquisition.
  • Built strategic plans as well as budget models, and worked with the management team to create plans, staff projects, establish the milestones, determine capital requirements, helping to develop a plan for 50% growth over the next five years.
  • Managed SMEs with volatile working capital needs, reviewing financial and bank statements, and updating monthly forecasts to ensure proactive management of highly variable and intense working capital cycles.
Focus areas: Business Development, Financial Advisory, Board of Directors, Director, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Corporate Development, Budgeting, Fundraising, Project Management, Valuation, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Strategy, Strategic Planning

Chairman of the Board

2015 - 2019
Trustees Executive Limited
  • Drove EBITDA growth of 20% per annum for three years for a 100-year old company by accelerating the digital transformation of the business in the face of increased competition from FinTech providers.
  • Identified managerial weaknesses and led a restructuring, recruiting a new CEO and management team, helping the business to achieve double-digit growth within a few months.
  • Replaced a legacy board of directors with newer, more active members at an equivalent cost that were keen to support the company in its transformation phase and were recognized by the local regulatory entity as a top performing board of directors.
  • Identified the critical technological challenges facing the company and executed a radical change in the company's strategy, structure, and management to accelerate the digital transformation of the business and ensure product leadership.
  • Drafted a new IT strategy to implement tools to help drive more efficiency and productivity helping to transform a 100-year old firm into a FinTech player utilizing the most up-to-date blockchain technology.
  • Built a business development process and culture by designing and implementing a revamped sales approach, developing a pipeline equal 50% of the revenue of the company in just six months, helping to deliver an increase in new strategic accounts and a 300% lift in the growth rate.
  • Initiated a strategy-defined culture implementing the use of strategic plans, organizing ongoing strategy sessions, designing strategic initiatives and priorities, and coaching the CEO.
  • Implemented a proper budgeting process helping to challenge and benchmark the management team, improve shareholder visibility into company performance, illustrate the risk of technological obsolescence, highlight the business development challenges, and drive better financial and operational performance.
  • Led the sell-side auction process for the company involving ten bidders managing advisors and leading negotiations that led to an increase in the top bid by ~50%.
  • Identified and executed cost reduction measures that decreased the company's expense base by 30%.
Focus areas: Director, Fundraising, Debt, Financial Controlling, Budgeting, Debt Restructuring, Strategic Planning, Funding Strategy, Risk Management, Board of Directors, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Managing Director

2015 - 2019
Sonnek
  • Led a debt raise of €10+ million, building a consolidated 5-year business model and driving negotiations with multiple lenders to enable a 50 basis point discount on the interest rate and a 15% increase in the loan amount.
  • Executed a transaction at a valuation of 3x EBITDA, a significant discount to the parent company's valuation, that doubled the product offering and increased the company revenue by 50%+ and 20%+ in the first and second year following the transaction.
  • Consolidated and restructured the management team, hiring a world-class CEO, building a financial function, organizing a worldwide distribution network, and setting up new strategic partnerships to transform this family-structured SME into a small multinational.
  • Built a multi-person financial department to support the growth of the company enabling stronger cash management, investment budgeting, forecasting and planning, and financial analysis.
  • Established KPI tracking, including reports of monthly sales and financial performance, for distribution to banks and shareholders, enabling greater visibility into operations and ensuring the maintenance of debt covenants.
  • Executed a capital increase of €3 million with new and existing shareholders, managing shareholder disagreements and concerns via the timing of the capital raise as well as optimizing the valuation company to drive a satisfactory resolution and a successful capital raise.
  • Increased the equity of the company and renegotiated the terms of the long-term loan, decreasing the interest rate by 200+ basis points, improving the repayment schedule, and negotiating additional financing to increase the cash available to finance its 30-50% yearly growth.
  • Helped management diversify the company proposing new water treatment business lines, new products, strategic partners and expansion into the Hungarian, Czech, and Middle East markets in Hungary, accelerating annual revenue growth from less than 10% to 20-30%.
Focus areas: Startup Funding, International Expansion, Business Development, Corporate Development, Financial Reporting, Equity Financing, Debt Raises, Fundraising, Budgeting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Strategy, Director, Valuation, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Strategist

2013 - 2019
Sterlinggrace Group
  • Acquired an Austrian industrial SME, negotiating a 25% decrease in the purchase price and a valuation of 4x EBITDA, and financing 70% of the transaction with third-party debt, delivering a price-to-earnings multiple of 5x.
  • Served a the chairman of a leading New Zealand financial services firm in New Zealand with NZ$100+ billion of funds under supervision helping to boost growth from 10% to 20% by building a proper business development function and strategic planning process, instituting KPIs to evaluate the management, as well as supervising and executing a NZ$3 million cost-saving plan.
  • Appointed as director of a New Zealand publicly-listed company with governance problems, poor trailing five-year share price performance, subpar capital allocation, and shareholder dissatisfaction, addressing these issues to deliver 500% share price growth.
  • Designed and utilized Agile project management methodologies to manage seven off-shore developers to create a new politically-focused social network, getting to market in less than two years after inception.
  • Led a perennially loss-making vineyard to achieve a 10% profit margin, establishing proper accounting and reporting functions and leading a deep dive on the features of the local market to successfully recommend and execute critical decisions on price, priority and organizational structures.
  • Sourced more than 30 deals in Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Asia.
  • Managed two remote Ukranian analysts achieving an 80% cost reduction and working with the team to produce documentation to raise debt and equity, manage due diligence for acquisitions, and source Eastern European deals.
Focus areas: Business Development, Fundraising, Advisory, Strategic Planning, Investment Portfolio Management, Valuation, Corporate Development, Debt Capital Markets, Equity, Director, Budgeting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Board Director

2013 - 2016
Tourism Holding Limited
  • Participated in a new board that altered strategy, eliminated exposure to unprofitable investments, reduced the asset base by 30%, and shifted operational focus to free up the cash flow generation and dividend distributions which helped increase the share price by 500%+.
  • Supervised the $300 million acquisition of a U.S. business and $30 million acquisition of a U.K. business using structures that limited downside exposure.
  • Helped the company initiate a digital transformation including the introduction of a camper van sharing concept, a dedicated mobile tourist recommendation app, and a real-time tracking system for camper van usage.
  • Pursued an active approach to investor relations, increasing meeting frequency, shareholder transparency, and incorporating shareholder suggestions into the company's strategy to improve shareholder relationships.
  • Negotiated a 20% block sale with local funds and obtained 20% price improvement over the initial bid.
Focus areas: Risk Management, Corporate Development, Director, Management, Strategy

Head of Strategy

2009 - 2013
Hertz International
  • Developed a new low-cost brand, establishing a business that generated well over $100 million in less than three years.
  • Devised an original, flexible, and low-cost operating model.
  • Defined the operational strategy and built the initial budget.
  • Recruited the team and leveraged an internal network to obtain the required resources.
  • Spearheaded detailed market research, sourced, and negotiated with numerous potential investment targets, and guided the acquisition of a Chinese branch.
  • Built the first strategic function for Hertz International and Hertz Global, subsidiaries with $2 billion and $10 billion of revenue, respectively, by designing implementing a strategic planning process and supporting the integration into the business with in-depth market intelligence.
  • Prepared an exhaustive analysis of Hertz's performance, benchmarking the market, procurement, and car sales to competitors, and presented a new image of the company to the top management, enabling an improvement plan targeting a 10% cost reduction across the entity.
Focus areas: International Expansion, Market Models, Funding Strategy, Budgeting, Strategic Planning, Corporate Development, Franchises, Eastern Europe, India, China, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Portolio Analyst | Portfolio Manager

2007 - 2009
Valartis Group
  • Maintained portfolio liquidity and helped lead investor relationship management during the 2008 crisis, preserving substantial client value in the face of severe market dislocation.
  • Traded equities and over-the-counter derivatives, managing a portfolio that overperformed the market over several periods.
  • Designed and executed special strategies based for instance on the privatization of the electricity market in Russia.
  • Established and implemented several successful derivative-based strategies designed to protect portfolio performance.
  • Generated investment ideas, identified mispriced opportunities, communicated frequently with investors, and executed trades.
Focus areas: Performance Analysis, Derivatives, Equity, Stock Trading, Equity Research Analysis, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Russia, Investment Portfolio Management, Asset Management
2000 - 2002

Master's Degree in Finance

Sciences Po - Paris, France

1995 - 2000

Master's Degree in Liberal Arts

Geneva University - Geneva, Switzerland

JUNE 2009 - PRESENT

CFA Candidate, Level Two

CFA Institute

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