Nine years, a nine-fold return

The outgoing chief executive of Dun & Bradstreet, Christine Christian, is best known to most Australian business people as an expert on all things to do with credit – payment terms, credit worthiness and the consumer outlook.

But she steps down from the CEO role today with an incredible record as an entrepreneur and value creator.

Right from the top it’s important to disclose that Christian is a member of the board of Private Media, the publisher of SmartCompany, so it’s obvious we hold her in high regard.

But it is worth revisiting Christian’s career with the company, as it provides an example of how canny deal making can unlock value within a business.

Christian has spent two decades working in various roles in D&B, including 12 years as chief executive. She was the first Australian CEO of D&B in Australia & New Zealand and the first woman to hold the role.

Her time in charge has been marked by three major transactions.

In 2001, Christian led the company through a management buy-out which saw local management take control of the company from D&B in the United States in a deal that valued the company at $25 million.

Six years later, she steered D&B Australia through its sale to Carnegie Wylie (now Lazard Private Equity) in a transaction that valued it at $120 million.

Then last year, she ran a dual-track sale process for D&B Australia and New Zealand. As well as working towards a float for the business, Christian was also negotiating to sell the company back to D&B in the United States.

Eventually, the US wing of D&B prevailed, buying the Australian and New Zealand business for $233 million.

That represented a $113 million increase in the company’s value in just three years, and a $212 million increase in nine years.

True, Christian had pretty good conditions in which to grow the business – a boom between 2001 and 2007, followed by a GFC in which SMEs particularly become obsessed with cashflow and bigger users of credit products.

But the key lesson here is around unlocking the value in a business.

It is only when a company is taken to market that its realistic value can be assessed, but the process of preparing a company for a transaction and leading it through a deal is notoriously difficult.

Indeed, running a business that has needed to be “sale ready” for much of the last decade must have been a huge challenge. That Christian has been able to keep staff focused on completing these deals, while growing day-to-day operations – tripling the size of D&B in the process – is impressive.

Christian will be succeeded by Gareth Jones, who currently serves as president of D&B Europe and managing director of D&B United Kingdom and Ireland.