Hello, I'm Nicolas B.

Details

Professional CategoryFinance
Location
Years of Relevant Experience15-20 years
Seniority LevelDirector
Consulting Rate (Hourly)175

Headline

Finance professional with experience across audit, Due diligence, M&A and regional finance roles

Experience

CFO APAC | Corporate M&A Director

Cprime, a Goldman Sachs & Everstone portfolio company (Digital transformation)April 2023 - July 2025As the CFO for the APAC region, reporting to the Group CFO, I lead a team of 8 to oversee the comprehensive financial affairs of Cprime’s subsidiaries in Australia, New Zealand, India and Singapore. My key responsibilities include: • Business partnering: working closely with regional MDs to provide actionable financial insights, support strategic decisions, and drive performance • Operational & profitability optimization: spearheading initiatives to enhance operational efficiency through KPI implementation, optimizing EBITDA via in-depth SG&A analysis, maximizing delivery team utilization, and implementing revenue enhancement strategies. • Finance operations: directing accurate and timely production of financial results and analyses, ensuring alignment with group requirements, and overseeing payroll and supplier payment cycles. • Team leadership & Development: driving a geographically dispersed team towards delivering highest finance and accounting quality standards • Advanced FP&A: P&L analysis, building and monitoring budget, ad hoc scenario-based modelling, business plan and cash forecasts • Compliance & Internal controls: Managing external statutory audits, coordinating local tax matters and filings, and continuously strengthening internal control processes. • Stakeholders’ management: primary financial contact for a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders, including the CEO, Group CFO, investors, auditors, banks, and tax authorities. • PMI: integrating newly acquired entities in Australia and India by aligning their financial processes and systems with group standards • Ad-hoc projects: Driving various critical ad-hoc projects such as purchase price allocation, change of travel provider and custom solution for the region, implemented POCM revenue recognition policy, supported systems migration, etc. KEY ACHIEVEMENTS • Successfully integrated the Australian and Indian subsidiaries into the group’s finance processes and lifted their financial capabilities and performance • EBITDA improvement through operational efficiency optimization (SG&A, team utilization, daily rates, unrealised revenue, etc.) • Streamlined month-end processes, resulting in a 40% faster month-end closing • Supported 3 acquisitions in Australia, US and India As Corporate M&A Director, reporting to the Group CSO and to the Board of Cprime, Goldman Sachs and Everstone, I am accountable to manage the end-to-end M&A process, including: • Deal sourcing, executing the diversification strategy defined by the Board • Initial valuation assessment & letter of intent drafting • Assessing potential cross-selling opportunities and costs synergies • Advising top management by assessing the operations of the company • Managing third-party due diligence providers (finance, tax, legal) • Tax structuring / Deal structuring (share deals and asset deals) • Directing SPA and ancillary documents negotiations, with the support of third-party legal counsels, up to deal closing. • Post-deal activities: post-merger integration, EO calculations, R&W enforcement, etc • Overall process management, ensuring communication with Cprime’s top management, investors, internal stakeholders (group CFO, accounting, tax, operations), and external stakeholders (sellers, target’s management, lenders, third-party DD providers) KEY ACHIEVEMENTS • Closed 3 acquisitions in 1 year, executing Cprime’s geographical and diversification strategy, and saving millions of $ through efficient structuring and price mechanisms. • Analysed 50+ potential companies and initiated discussions towards potential acquisition Successfully integrated the Australian subsidiary into the group’s finance processes and lifted their financial capabilities

Corporate M&A Director and Regional CFO Project leader

Alten Group (French listed company, IT & engineering, €4bn revenue, 55,000 employees)February 2018 - April 2023As Corporate M&A Director, managed end-to-end M&A processes for cross-border acquisitions and divestures with hands-on affairs and strategic planning and execution. The scope included: • Letter of intent drafting & valuation • Advising top management by assessing the operations of the company • Managing third-party due diligence providers (finance, tax, legal) • Tax structuring / Deal structuring (share deals and asset deals) • Managing SPA drafting and negotiations, supported by legal counsels, up to deal closing • Post-deal activities: first three to six months financial integration, earn-out calculation, warranty claims, and remaining a key contact point for the acquired entities and HQ teams. • Overall process management, ensuring communication with internal stakeholders (top management, finance, accounting, tax, treasury, operations), and external stakeholders (sellers, target’s management, third-party providers) • Deals characteristics: deal values from USD 5m to 100m, targets based in China, Japan, Korea, India, US, Canada, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, UK As the project leader for the Regional CFO (APAC, North America and Eastern Europe), I consistently took on critical, cross-functional responsibilities at the Group level. These initiatives included: • supporting group subsidiaries in crafting business plans • establishing new entities • goodwill impairment testing for accounting purposes • capital increases in foreign countries • supporting with complex tax matters and litigations • driving statutory mergers KEY ACHIEVEMENTS • Closed 15 acquisitions and 2 divestures, adding nearly 5,000 consultants to the Alten Group and total deal value of USD 600m. • Managed and closed the divesture of Cprime to Goldman Sachs and Everstone Capital, Alten’s largest divesture. • Managed and closed the acquisition of CIENET, the largest acquisition historically carried out by the Alten Group, adding 2,000 employees and USD 100m revenue. • Enhanced the M&A processes by bringing best practices concerning the financial components of a deal, deal structuring, and comprehensive process management.

Corporate M&A Manager

BNP Paribas Cardif (French listed bank & insurance group)January 2017 - February 2018• Responsible to lead the acquisition processes in the context of external growth projects: valuation, management of due diligence third-party providers, coordination of internal workstreams, support to SPA negotiations and deal closing • Provided operational support to the teams in the financial analysis of partnerships with foreign institutions (banks, insurances, car retailers) for life and non-life insurance KEY ACHIEVEMENTS • Led BNP’s effort with the USD 10bn IPO of SBI Life Insurance (JV with State bank of India). • Led the shotgun auction acquisition of Cargeas valued at ~€180m

Commercial & Finance Due Diligence Associate Director

KPMG ChinaOctober 2014 - October 2016As Commercial due diligence Associate Director : • Led commercial due diligence engagements concerning foreign companies aiming to enter the Chinese market: market analysis & sizing, competition analysis, target positioning, pricing and margins, benchmark analyses, and target screening for acquisition purposes. • Various industries, including car rental, banking, medical and consumer services As Finance due diligence Associate Director • Led FDD engagements: review targets’ historical performance, QoE and net debt analysis, assessing BP achievability, historical balance sheet review, working capital and cash flows. • Engagement types: mostly buy-side due diligences for Chinese acquirers, mainly large-cap foreign targets (USD 1bn+ valuations), including listed companies • Diversified industries, including energy, natural resources and industrial clients. KEY ACHIEVEMENTS • Awarded KPMG China’s 2015 “Bravo Award” for outstanding contribution • Supported 20+ large-sized acquisition projects in just two years • Enhanced local teams’ technical skills in finance due diligence by providing training sessions

Finance Due Diligence Manager

PwC AdvisoryJune 2011 - October 2014• Led financial due diligence engagements: review targets’ historical performance, QoE and net debt analysis, current trading, assessing budget’s and BP’s achievability, working capital and cash flows. • Engagement types: sell-side DD, buy-side DD, review of completion accounts. • Targets / clients profile: board games, food & beverage, services, heavy industry, construction, utilities, publishing, fashion | Small, mid and large caps | French and multinational targets • Led engagement teams of up to 6 people KEY ACHIEVEMENTS • Supported 15+ M&A projects, including large vendor due diligence projects

Senior Financial Auditor

PwC AuditAugust 2007 - June 2011• Led and supported statutory audit of local, national and multinational corporations. • Accounting standards: French GAAP, IFRS | Consolidated and statutory accounts • Managed engagement teams of up to 5 people

Industry

Financial Services
Professional Services
Technology, Information and Media

Specific Jurisdictions That I'm Qualified In or Can Cover

France

Singapore

Language(s)

English
French
Spanish

I am interested in

Professional / Business Networking
Providing Services based on my Expertise