Stax Company Profile

STRATEGIC PARTNER FOR GROWTH

A Global Strategy Consulting Firm

Stax is a mid-sized strategy consulting firm with big-firm credentials.

BOSTON

LOC A TIONS

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high-impact not broad

NEW YORK

strategic academic

“Other firms take a week to read back to me what I told them in the first meeting. Stax teaches me something new right away.”

Principal, Top 10 LBO Firm “Actionable, don’t lose that. The big firms don’t have it.”

CEO, Multi-Billion Dollar Corp.

Our clients tell us they like how we listen, get to the heart of the matter quickly, develop clear fact-based answers, and leave them with practical next steps. And that we do all this without getting in the way of them running their business. They frequently note how differentiated this all is in the world of strategic consulting.

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COLOMBO

OFFICES

Deep experience in corporate strategy, including an array of services to help management grow organically and make better M&A decisions.

Focus on assignments, exercises.

CHICAGO

C LIENTS Small Companies to

$30B Global Corporations OF FORTUNE

27 500

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EX P ERIEN C E

20

Year Track Record

OF LARGEST

20 LBO

FIRMS

An experienced leadership team heading

Stax’s Asia-Pacific HQ in Colombo for 10 years

Ruwindhu Peiris

Arj Wignaraja

Experience 20+ years of strategic consulting experience Previous: Consultant with The Boston Consulting Group Education M.B.A., Northwestern University (Kellogg) B.A., Princeton University

Dr. Kumudu Gunasekera

Experience 15+ years experience in consulting for Global F500 companies Previous: VP and Head of Operations for Virtusa Corporation

Experience 15+ years of strategic consulting experience Previous: Principal with Parsons Brinckerhoff (a Balfour Beatty Company)

Education M.B.A., Edith Cowan University (Australia) B.Sc., Queen’s University (Canada)

Education Ph.D., Boston University, M.A., Boston University B.A., Hobart and William Smith Colleges

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We deliver reliable answers

across industries and around the globe Stax Global Engagements

Norway Finland Sweden Scotland Denmark Netherland Belarus Poland Ireland Germany UK Ukraine Belgium France Switzerland Italy Spain Turkey Israel

Canada

United States

Mexico

Russia

Kazakhstan

China Korea

Japan

India Ghana

Thailand

Nigeria Kenya

Brazil

Angola

Tanzania

Malaysia Singapore

Zambia Mozambique

Argentina

Sri Lanka

Vietnam

Australia

New Zealand

Industries of Expertise Agriculture Business Services Consumer, Retail & Restaurants Education & Training Energy Financial Services Healthcare Industrial & Manufacturing Information Technology & Media Private Equity

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Over 1,500 deals across 40+ countries on 6 continents

We help clients create value, quantify opportunities, and manage risk.

Our Approach: Work closely with the client to frame the problem.

Use the client’s time efficiently; don’t “move in.”

Dig deeply to uncover fact-based market insights.

Identify implications.

Leave behind recommendations that are ACTIONABLE: - Specific recommendations, supported by facts, to help our clients grow profits and value - A process that builds buy in to recommendations

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Stax has a unique case-team model,

matching content and

skills experts Generalist Consultants

Industry Experts

Ability to scale team up or down to fit each engagement’s need Round-the-clock access to specialized skills

Customers

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Consumer Insights Team

Specialist Interviewers

Research Team

Competitors

Data Analytics Team

Stax strives to be more than a service provider - we view ourselves as

truly differentiated, and an extension of your team

Common challenges working with consultants

What to expect when working with Stax

“Generalists don’t know enough but specialists think they know the answer right at the get go.”

We are generalists, but have a lot of experience on which to draw. We don’t presume to know the answers, but seek to ask the right questions.

“Consultants rely too heavily on their own past work or on secondary information to drive their findings.”

We rely heavily on market data, even where we do have past experience, and conduct original research to support our findings.

“Sold on experience that the team doing the work didn’t have.”

We staff teams to draw on previous, relevant experience. Our small firm size also means easy access to others with direct industry knowledge.

“I increasingly get the B team.”

You always have experienced, senior staff involved on your project - whether it’s the first project or the 100th.

“It’s difficult to strike a balance between managing cost and managing speed.”

Our flexible team structure easily accommodates stops and starts - maximizing budgets and resource utilization.

“Consultants rely too much on our team to do the work - or they don’t involve us at all.”

We take a ‘meeting light’ approach, providing regular updates on a set schedule and are always available, but not constantly requiring your input.

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Our process is designed to develop

actionable recommendations S t a x E ng a gement P r o ces s Make more informed investment decisions

Work with management to define objectives; get buy-in

Frame key issues for investigation

Research and analysis based on project scope

Discuss fact-based insights and appropriate management actions

Achieve strategic objectives faster

Reduce management burden & opportunity cost Realign organization to achieve ROI more effectively

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Stax helps identify high growth opportunities with

actionable strategies for execution Stax Services

Clarity

Client Outcomes

Action

Growth

 Products?  Customers?  Growth channels?  Brand scalability?  Competitors?

 How do we keep staff motivated?  How do we stay ahead of competitors?  How do we understand customers and cater to their needs?  How can we make marketing

Go Glo bal /

 Markets?

Big Go

Op tim rationally Ope ize

Client Questions

 How do we track growth?

more effective?

At

Stax Solutions

 Market screening & prioritization  Acquisition screening

 Dash-boarding & analytics

 Product development strategy

 Facilitation

 Customer segmentation strategy

 Competitor monitoring

 Channel strategy

 Voice of customer surveys

 Brand strategy

 Customer churn, profitability, &

 Competitor intelligence

tra

ct S

m a r t C a pital

target pricing  Media mix optimization

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CLIENT TESTIMONY

SCOTT CLAWSON, CULLIGAN INTERNATIONAL CEO (FORMERLY GSI CEO) owner some day. We hired Stax to help with this, including where to place resources globally and how best to explain it to a potential buyer. We were looking for specific market intelligence, strategies, and actions that my global team could use to propel growth and generate more profits. Much of this work was in emerging markets, where we had great opportunity but a difficult time framing it up.

Scott Clawson, who recently became President and CEO of global water company Culligan International, worked with Stax while he held the same positions at GSI, a global leader in grain storage and protein production systems. He was hired in 2007 to run GSI, which it recently sold to agricultural-equipment maker AGCO. Before working with Centerbridge and GSI, Scott was president of Gilbarco Veeder Root, a $750+ million platform of Danaher Corporation.

Scott, how did you get to know Stax?

I first worked with Stax very successfully while at Danaher. Even though I already knew you years ago, I was reintroduced in 2011 through our board at GSI, who knew your work in the agriculture business and liked the way you thought about business issues in general.

Please give us a little background on what kind of work Stax did for you at GSI. When Centerbridge acquired GSI, it saw the opportunity to put together a broader strategic plan to accelerate its growth and improve its positioning as part of our long-term value creation plan that would be attractive to a new

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Can you describe what was involved?

Sure. Your team did a strategy analysis for two major divisions within our agricultural equipment business. These were in distinctly different parts of the market, so there were separate work streams to some degree. Stax helped with deep market analysis, as well as competitor and customer research, across six geographic regions worldwide. Then they helped frame up the strategies and action plans to take advantage of the opportunities.

How did this work help you in the near term on an operational basis?

We used the work to determine where we stood within the competitive environment in all those countries. It provided clear guidance about where we should put our sales and manufacturing resources, where we should go it alone and where to form partnerships, how to choose what level of product we market in each location and at what price.

And longer term? What kind of shelf life did the work have?

It may sound a little contradictory, but the shelf life was immediate. By that I mean it gave us very quickly the information we needed to make some big longer-term decisions. And, even though I’ve moved on, I can say that GSI is still using it 18 months later. The Stax work helped frame the foundation of a very successful three-year strategy.

So you would consider the project a success?

I would definitely say so. From a purely financial perspective, we significantly grew the size of the company in terms of revenues, geographic presence, and earnings. We then sold GSI for $940 million to AGCO, a Fortune 300 leading agricultural corporation, which is a great long-term home for GSI. While financially we were a huge success, there is also an important human aspect to it. The employees of GSI now have a long-term strategic owner who understands their business and importance of brands. The employees feel like the company will continue to flourish and grow.

Any final thoughts for the Stax team you worked with?

First of all, I really appreciated the way they respected our team’s time, gathering the input they needed from us very quickly, then getting on with the project. That’s very different from many of the consulting firms we deal with, where interacting with them starts to feel like a full time job. I also know your team at Stax does a lot of projects and you wonder how they turn out, whether they help the companies and their employees. Well, with this project, your team did help the lives of many at GSI and

will for years to come. I’d like to thank those who worked with us all over the world, and particularly the guys in Colombo, who did some real heavy lifting in the data analysis. The quality of the research really helped build credibility with the team. Your firm also has people fluent in many different languages, which is key when you’re researching and interviewing sources all over the world. I know your entire team everywhere worked very hard under extreme demands and pressure to finish the project. We are deeply appreciative of what Stax helped us accomplish.

Stax is a global strategy consulting firm providing premier corporate and private equity clients with actionable answers based on deep research and analysis.

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341/5, M&M Center, Kotte Road, Rajagiriya.

SRI LANKA. Tel: +94 112 887815 www.stax.com

Arj Wignaraja

Mobile: +94 773 128441 E-mail: arj@stax.com

Dr. Kumudu Gunasekera

Mobile +94 775 590955 E-mail: kumudug@stax.com

Ruwindhu Peiris

www.threesixtyfive.us

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Mobile +94 777 270286 E-mail: ruwindhup@stax.com