The following might be a subtitle for this true account of how one deal was put together: "In spite of everything, you need only one buyer - the right one!" (Although the details are factual, names and financial data are fictional.)

The company (let's call it ElectroCo) has carved a niche in a $ billion industry. It manufactures proprietary electronic products and is owned by a private equity firm that wants to sell it for liquidity reasons. At the beginning of 2001, the private equity group retained an intermediary firm (its fictional name is Un...