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Carve-Outs, Interim CFO, Restructuring & Operational Finance

When the numbers
have to hold up.

$0
Interim CFO, Buy-Side Carve-Out
$0
Recurring Savings Identified, Offshore Drilling Contractor
$0
Reserve-Based Loan Restructured Out of Court, Lender-Side Advisor
0
Years of Experience
Figures are from individual engagements, not cumulative totals. Client names are withheld.
What We Do

Advisory Services

Every advisory engagement is powered by our proprietary ClearPoint analytics platform, delivering structured frameworks and execution-ready solutions.

Restructuring & Turnaround

Out-of-court restructuring, liquidity management, covenant analysis, creditor communications, operational cost-out

  • Out-of-court restructuring advisory & execution
  • 13-week cash flow forecasting (rolling, actuals vs. forecast)
  • Liquidity management & cash preservation strategies
  • Covenant analysis, compliance monitoring & lender reporting
  • Creditor communications & stakeholder management
  • Operational cost-out identification & implementation

M&A Advisory

Operational due diligence, synergy validation, carve-outs, integration planning, standalone cost modeling

  • Operational due diligence (buy-side & sell-side)
  • Synergy validation & value-capture planning
  • Carve-out readiness & standalone cost modeling
  • Integration planning & TSA development
  • Deal structuring support & transaction analytics

FP&A & Cash Flow Forecasting

We deliver the forecasting infrastructure and reporting discipline that CFOs need to manage cash, communicate with stakeholders, and make informed decisions.

  • Budgeting, forecasting & long-range financial planning
  • Financial modeling & strategic decision support
  • Performance reporting, KPI dashboards & trend analysis
  • Board packages & executive presentation materials

Operational Finance

We help organizations understand their true cost structure, uncover inefficiencies, and build actionable plans that improve margins and performance.

  • Cost-structure diagnostics across operations, overhead, and vendor spend
  • Working capital improvement and cash-conversion optimization
  • Performance benchmarking and KPI identification across functions
  • Organizational assessment, vendor analytics, and sourcing support
Track Record

Select Engagements

Representative engagements from more than 20 years in corporate finance, spanning carve-outs, restructuring, M&A advisory, FP&A, and operational finance. Client names are withheld.

Interim CFO · Carve-Out · Biofuels

Interim CFO for a $150M Buy-Side Carve-Out

Stood up the finance function for a biofuels carve-out and led its liquidity, covenant and board reporting.

Challenge: The business was acquired as a carve-out without an established finance function. It needed reliable weekly visibility into cash, covenant compliance and performance, and a finance team to produce it.

Solution: Served as Interim CFO and stood up the finance function. Built and owned the three-year business plan (income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, with covenants, debt and hedging), the weekly 13-week cash flow, the board package and KPI dashboards. Led liquidity and covenant management, with the cash flow flagging cash shortfalls, low points and liquidity gaps and tracking actuals against forecast and the borrowing base. Led cost optimization and tracked value creation initiatives by owner and status.

Impact: The company moved from no established finance function to weekly liquidity visibility, covenant monitoring and board-ready reporting, and was positioned for a future sale.

▼ View Details
Finance function stood up, with weekly cash, covenant and board reporting put in place.
Carve-Out · Technology

Buy-Side Carve-Out Diligence for a B2B Media Technology Firm

Directed standalone cost and TSA diligence for a PE sponsor evaluating a carve-out.

Challenge: A PE sponsor needed to understand the standalone cost base, TSA requirements and carve-out risks of a B2B media technology business.

Solution: Led discussions with functional heads, built the standalone cost analysis by function, reviewed the TSA and IT carve-out, and assessed offshore operations.

Impact: The standalone run-rate estimate of $4M - $5M was the incremental cost needed to run the business independently from the parent.

▼ View Details
$4M - $5M standalone run-rate estimate
Carve-Out · Technology & Data

Carve-Out of a B2B Technology, Data and Marketing Company into Two Businesses

Built the standalone operating model, cost estimate and TSA scope for each business.

Challenge: A B2B technology, data and marketing company was being split into two standalone businesses, and each needed a view of its standalone costs, one-time costs and transition services.

Solution: Built the standalone operating model and cost estimate for each business, sized one-time costs and defined the TSA scope.

Impact: Standalone costs fell by $2M for one business and rose by $3M for the other.

▼ View Details
Standalone cost case for each business
Restructuring · Energy

Offshore Drilling Restructuring and 100-Day Cost Take-Out

Built the financial model and supported a 100-day cost take-out for an offshore drilling contractor after its emergence from Chapter 11.

Challenge: Declining activity and cost pressure required actionable insights into savings opportunities and operating model efficiency, including sizing the organization for a smaller active fleet.

Solution: Supported a 100-day cost take-out program of about 85 workstreams. Assessed cost structure across G&A, operations support, shore-based offices, supply chain and capex: 44 position reductions, a supply chain review of about $133M of addressable spend, and an assessment of nearly 50 capex initiatives. Built an integrated financial model supporting liquidity planning and scenario analysis.

Impact: The work identified $16M of recurring annual savings, with a sequenced roadmap for capturing value.

▼ View Details
$16M recurring savings identified
M&A · Home Décor & Textiles

Merger of Two Home Décor and Textile Manufacturers

Led operational due diligence, post-close integration and tracking of post-close synergies.

Challenge: A PE sponsor was combining two home décor and textile manufacturers and needed a validated view of synergies and a plan to capture them.

Solution: Led operational due diligence, then post-close integration planning and execution. Built the synergy model bottom up across headcount, plant consolidation, facilities, raw materials, logistics, IT and SG&A, with one-time costs to achieve, risks and a phased timeline. After close, tracked post-close synergies against the diligence estimate.

Impact: Identified $60M - $95M of net recurring synergies for $17M - $23M of one-time costs, and tracked their realization after close.

▼ View Details
$60M - $95M synergies identified
Restructuring · Energy

Out-of-Court Restructuring of a $210M Reserve-Based Loan

Financial advisor to the lender group on an out-of-court restructuring of a $210M reserve-based loan, from liquidity monitoring through term sheet analysis.

Challenge: An oil and gas borrower faced a $35M borrowing base deficiency, depressed commodity prices and tight liquidity. The lenders needed an independent view of cash, reserves and recoveries to choose between a negotiated out-of-court deal and a full equitization.

Solution: Served as financial advisor to the revolving credit facility lenders. Monitored the borrower’s 13-week cash flow and budget to actuals, ran lender recovery cases on adjusted reserve and production assumptions, and analyzed term sheet proposals covering take-back debt, preferred and common equity conversions and sponsor new money. Compared the borrower’s offer to a full RBL equitization.

Impact: The borrower’s offer beat a full equitization on lender recovery in all three cases tested, and the restructuring closed successfully out of court.

▼ View Details
$210M RBL, lender-side advisor, closed out of court
M&A · Education

Operational Due Diligence for Educational Services Provider

Conducted operational due diligence on a multi-campus healthcare education provider as an acquisition target.

Challenge: A public education company acquiring a healthcare education provider needed to understand cost structure, synergy potential and integration risks before signing, in about six weeks.

Solution: Mapped the target’s organization by department against the buyer’s, compared headcount and spend, and sized headcount and non-headcount synergies by function. Estimated one-time costs to achieve and flagged red flags in campus operations and accreditation, financial aid, marketing disclosures, IT security and finance systems.

Impact: Identified $7M - $11M of net annual cost synergies, about 4% to 6% of the target’s cost base, for $8M - $13M of one-time costs.

▼ View Details
$7M - $11M annual cost synergies
Operational · Electronics Manufacturing

Cost Optimization Diligence across Four Electronics Manufacturers

Sized cost savings across four electronic manufacturing service providers.

Challenge: Leadership needed a fact-based view of cost savings across four electronic manufacturing service providers.

Solution: Analyzed direct materials (vendor consolidation and payment terms), indirect spend, organizational spans of control, labor productivity and overtime, and benefits, and evaluated production migration to a lower-cost geography.

Impact: Identified $7M - $16M of run-rate savings achievable in 18 to 36 months.

▼ View Details
$7M - $16M run-rate savings identified
Commercialization · Healthcare

Behavioral-Health Platform Commercialization Strategy

Defined the buyer, market size and pilot-first roadmap for a Medicaid case-management platform in Texas.

Challenge: The platform had been used only internally by a single provider and had no external validation. Leadership needed to know who would buy it, how large the market was, and what had to be in place before a first pilot.

Solution: Mapped the Texas Medicaid buying landscape and identified the primary buyers, with the state agency as a policy and legitimacy partner rather than a purchaser. Sized the serviceable market using public enrollment data and multi-state benchmarks. Assessed pilot readiness across seven domains (compliance, security, environment, reporting, rules coverage, support and procurement), built a risk matrix and a five-person operating model with one-time compliance costs, and sequenced an 18-month roadmap.

Impact: Gave leadership a pilot-first plan to close readiness gaps in the first six months, land one to three authority pilots in months six to twelve, and expand in months twelve to eighteen.

▼ View Details
18-month pilot-first roadmap delivered
Divisive Merger · Energy

Divisive-Merger Liability & Scenario Assessment for PE-Backed E&P

Assessed liability allocation and modeled separation scenarios for a PE-backed upstream operator evaluating a potential divisive-merger structure.

Challenge: The company required clarity on how liabilities, exposures, and entity-level outcomes would shift under different separation scenarios.

Solution: Assessed liability allocation and exposure pathways. Modeled separation scenarios to illustrate entity-level financial and operational implications. Provided a framework highlighting key tradeoffs and exposures.

Impact: Delivered a structured, defensible view of risk distribution and financial implications.

▼ View Details
Structured risk framework delivered
How ClearPoint Works

From Raw Data to Board-Ready Insights

Three steps. Fast turnaround. No implementation consultants, no IT tickets, no six-month rollout.

1
📊

Share Your Data

We send you a focused data request tailored to your business: financials, operating data, and supporting schedules. We handle the mapping, cleanup, and model configuration.

2
🛠️

We Build Your Model

We build a tailored analytical framework for your situation, whether that’s a cash flow forecast, operational diagnostic, synergy model, or restructuring plan. Every assumption is transparent, every output auditable.

3
📦

You Get the Full Package

Interactive dashboards, formula-driven workbooks, and branded board packages, all cross-validated with automated integrity checks. Board-ready in days, not months.

The Case For Weekly

See The Bad Week Coming

A live cost shock, modelled two ways: weekly visibility versus monthly reporting. The gap between when you could act and when you find out is the whole argument for a rolling 13-week forecast.

Illustrative scenario. Commodity moves shown are cumulative over the scenario period, not year-over-year.

See It In Action

Interactive ClearPoint Demo

Set the working-capital posture and watch a 13-week cash flow respond: the trajectory, the liquidity position and the KPIs move together. An illustrative taste; the full platform is walked through live.

ClearPoint: Illustrative Preview
• Base case
Snap between three curated postures. In ClearPoint each driver is independent and calibrated from your actuals, shown live, by appointment.
Net Cash Flow, 13 wk
+$2.5M
Ending Cash, Wk 13
$5.4M
Cash Trough
-$0.8M
Weeks Below Floor
11 of 13
Cash Trajectory
Ending book cash by week vs. the minimum-cash floor
Ending cashMin-cash floor
Liquidity
Cash above the floor + revolver availability = total liquidity
Excess / (shortfall) vs floorRevolver availabilityTotal liquidity
A preview of the ClearPoint dashboard, shown intentionally blurred
The Full Platform · By Appointment

There's much more behind the glass

The demo above is a taste. The working model (full line-item cash flow, revolver mechanics, borrowing base and covenant monitoring) isn't published online. Book a one-on-one and we'll walk you through the live dashboard over Teams or a screen-share, driven by real numbers.

Book a Live Walkthrough

Interactive demo uses illustrative figures. The full ClearPoint platform runs privately and is demonstrated live, never hosted for public access.

The ClearPoint Platform

Don’t get blindsided. See What’s Coming.

The full platform. 59 seconds. No sales call.

Need More Than a Platform?

Project-based advisory, interim CFO support, operational due diligence, and custom engagements available alongside the ClearPoint build. Let’s talk.

About VanQuest Consulting
Baber Khan
Baber Khan, CFA
Founder & Managing Partner
Our Approach: Straightforward. Analytical. Execution-focused.

VanQuest was created to fill a gap many companies experience. Firms often face complexity, whether financial, operational, or strategic, yet do not have the bandwidth or internal resources to diagnose issues quickly or build actionable plans. VanQuest brings senior-level rigor, structure, and clarity to these problems without the overhead of a large consulting firm.

Baber is a finance executive with more than twenty years in corporate finance, restructuring, M&A and FP&A, across energy, industrials, manufacturing, education and technology. His career included FTI Consulting, corporate development at Baker Hughes and Waste Management, and valuation advisory at Duff & Phelps, along with hands-on execution of carve-outs, integrations and liquidity-critical work.

He served as Interim CFO of a $150M buy-side carve-out, standing up its finance function. He built and owned the business plan, the weekly 13-week cash flow, board reporting and KPI dashboards, led liquidity and covenant management, cost optimization and value creation tracking, and prepared the company for a future sale. He also advised the lenders on an out-of-court restructuring of a $210M reserve-based loan that closed successfully, built the financial model and supported the 100-day cost take-out at an offshore drilling contractor, and led synergy and cost work on mergers, carve-outs and portfolio companies. Before his finance career he spent seven years as a software engineer for Fortune 100 clients.

RX

Restructuring & Turnaround

Out-of-court restructuring, liquidity management, covenant analysis, creditor communications

M&A

M&A Advisory

Operational due diligence, synergy validation, carve-outs, integration planning

FP&A

Financial Planning & Analytics

Budgeting & forecasting, KPI dashboards, liquidity management, board packages

OPS

Operational Improvement

Cost diagnostics, vendor analytics, working capital, benchmarking

Education & Technical Foundation

CFA Charterholder
MBA, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin
B.S. Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University
Prior to his finance career, Baber spent seven years as a software engineer, developing enterprise-grade solutions for Fortune 100 companies. This blend of engineering, finance, and strategic advisory enables him to bridge technical detail with commercial realities.

Ready to See What ClearPoint Can Do?

Whether you need a rolling 13-week forecast, scenario-driven analytics, or a CFO-grade platform, we're ready when you are.

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Let's Discuss Your Objectives

Practical Analysis. Direct Communication.

You get answers, clarity, and solutions you can act on immediately. No jargon. No filler. We respond to every inquiry within 24 hours.

WEB
www.vanquestconsulting.com
HQ
Houston, Texas