Turning a Competitor’s Failure into 50% Revenue Growth: A Distressed Deal Case Study Distressed Acquisition We Advised On We don’t usually do these but thought I’d share the case study. We don’t normally touch them because they are messy, time compressed, legally constrained, light on diligence, heavy on execution risk, and emotionally draining for everyone involved. Most buyers underestimate the cash required, overestimate how quickly synergies arrive, and forget that in an insolvency process you are buying problems, not just assets. That said, we recently advised on a distressed situation where the strategic logic was unusually compelling — and where the downside was well understood and actively managed. This article outlines why the deal made sense, and then walks through a live deal analysis, covering the real world considerations buyers need to think about when acquiring a business out of administration. The strategic backdrop A year ago, we helped a JV partner acquire a profitable construction business: • £11m turnover • £1.1m EBITDA • Well-run, scalable, and operationally disciplined Recently, a direct competitor — operating in the same region, with overlapping customers, assets, and workforce — moved toward administration. From the outside, the distressed business looked unattractive: • Loss making • Overstaffed head office • Factored receivables • Asset heavy • Operationally fragmented across multiple sites But from the perspective of an experienced operator already in the sector, it represented something else: An opportunity to add almost 50% to turnover, improve margins through scale and consolidation, and acquire hard assets at a fraction of replacement value. This wasn’t a financial engineering play. It was a strategic bolt on rescue, driven by operational synergies. The core investment thesis The buyer’s logic was straightforward: • Revenue upside • Retain core customers • Cross sell into an existing client base • Renew live contracts • Margin improvement

Hey everyone, John Gatharia here, joining from Nairobi, Kenya. I'm the CEO & Founder of BulliOne Africa, where we're currently raising our first institutional private equity fund (USD 50-70M) targeting control-oriented investments in Africa's lower-mid market. We focus on cash-generative businesses in logistics, infrastructure services, energy, and financial services across core African growth corridors. Our thesis is straightforward: there's a structural gap between high-quality, under-institutionalized businesses and structured value-add capital in African markets. We're building a platform to bridge that gap through active ownership and operational value creation. Current focus: - Fundraising for Fund I (targeting USD 27M first close in Q2 2026) - Deal sourcing across East Africa - Building out our investment infrastructure and governance frameworks Why I'm here: I'm looking to connect with fellow dealmakers, learn from operators who've successfully closed lower-mid market transactions, and share insights on navigating African private markets. Always interested in discussing deal structuring, fundraising strategies, and operational value creation playbooks. Happy to share what I've learned building from scratch in emerging markets. Looking forward to connecting with you all. John Contact: 📧 info@bullione.africa 📱 +254 747 711131 🌐 www.bullione.africa