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To learn more about how Burton Sweet Corporate Finance can help you achieve your goals, click on the links to our core service offerings below:
Feasibility
Deals
Support
Pre-Deal Evaluation
Through our Pre-Deal Evaluation service, we can review the feasibility of the deal being considered.
Contact a member of the Burton Sweet Corporate Finance team, if you have an acquisition or MBO to consider as a pre-deal evaluation can help to minimise the chances of the deal falling through as matters progress.
Early Stage and Growth Consultancy
We have strong relationships with a full range of funders (Banks, Venture Capitalists etc) including Burton Sweet Asset Finance enhancing our ability to support growing businesses with raising capital.
We will work with you to produce a rigorous Business Plan to secure your funding requirement. We will help to negotiate the price of the funding, and make sure the assignment does not over burden you.
Business Grooming and Exit Strategy
Shareholder value can be increased by disposing of a business at the right time and at the right price. This should be part of a long-term strategy and we can help you:
Develop an exit strategy
Through our Fast Strategy Workout tool, we will help you to identify your goals and objectively assess the exit options available. The process results in mapping out the most effective route to maximise shareholder value.
Groom the business for sale
Unlike listed companies, there is no such thing as the "right price" for a private business. You need to make your business as attractive as possible to potential buyers, and improve areas that a buyer might see as weak.
We will work with you and recommend a range of actions to implement to achive enhancements. Exit value can be dramatically increased by investing early in grooming your business for sale.
Value the business
A business is worth whatever a purchaser is prepared to pay for it, as the price is entirely dependent upon the buyers own objectives. For example, if the business can be successfully integrated to double a buyer's turnover with little increase in fixed costs; they will clearly pay more than a buyer for whom the acquisition would remain a separate business.
We are able to provide clear and accurate advice based upon our experience of other transactions in your sector and knowledge of the prevailing ‘market’ conditions.
Once we have formulated the exit strategy and worked with you to groom the business for sale, Burton Sweet Corporate Finance can then assist in the disposal of the business and advise on how the transaction should be structured.
Management Buy-Outs
Burton Sweet Corporate Finance has invested considerable resource in a team with the remit to identify opportunities for funders and ambitious entrepreneurs to invest in corporate acquisitions, MBOs and MBIs.
A management buy-out (MBO) offers ambitious managers the opportunity to achieve the twin objectives of owning their own business and enjoying financial rewards potentially far in excess of those that would be available as a salaried executive. MBO’s can often be structured using the assets of the company with little cash being brought to the table from management. It is alsways worth considering whether an MBO can be achieved, even if you consider that management cannot ‘afford’ the deal. See ‘Pre-Deal Evaluation’.
We will use and approach appropriate funders. Our experience and deal brokering ability ensures that the best deal is achieved to meet both your personal and business goals.
A Successful MBO
The critical elements for a successful MBO are:
- An attractive business
- A willing vendor
- A strong, ambitious and highly motivated management team
- Funding
The MBO process
MBO’s are complex transactions and can take up to 6 months to complete. They require a good deal of persistence for all parties’ involved and strong technical expertise, particularly if some restructuring is to also to take place.
The key stages of an MBO are shown below:
- Pre-deal evaluation
- Produce a business plan and integrated financials
- Present to investment houses and bankers
- Receive offers from investors
- Appoint legal advisers
- Negotiate purchase of business with vendor
- Investors carry out due diligence investigation
- Prepare and negotiate legal documentation
- Legal completion
Management Buy-Ins
We will help you to:
- Find a target company(or, if a target company has already been identified) advise on the feasibility of the transaction
- Prepare a business plan
- Source the finance
- Negotiate the deal
Business Acquisitions
An effective growth strategy is to increase the value of your business through acquisitions.
Growing by acquisition is a key strategy of many businesses but few have the resource and expertise to effectively steer an acquisition from initial identification to completion without significant disruption to the core business.
Burton Sweet Corporate Finance can help by:
- Identifying targets and “opening doors”
- Negotiating with vendors on your behalf
- Raising funds for the deal as necessary
- Advising on tax and commercially efficient deal structures
- Managing the legal and due diligence process
We also carry out due diligence investigation work on your acquisition target, therefore providing you with a fully integrated service.
Business Sales
Burton Sweet Corporate Finance can ensure that the sale of your business achieves the best possible price and that it is carried out with the minimum disruption and within an optimum timescale by:
Identifying a strategic purchaser
We will help you to find a potential buyer for your business by:
- Extensive research carried out by our team of analysts
- Matching your business to our database of acquirers’ current acquisition requirements
- Using our network of professional contacts
- Using our network of contacts within banks and equity houses
Not all of the potential purchasers we identify will be "obvious" trade buyers and we endeavour to think as widely as possible in identifying potential acquirers.
Negotiating and brokering the deal
The sale of your business can be an emotional and stressful process. When the stakes are high, it is difficult for you to negotiate objectively on a transaction which you may not have experience on, or have reason to repeat again. We can identify buyer tactics and combat them effectively. Our technical knowledge and financial acumen helps to ensure the right deal is structured; one that is more likely to complete.
Maximising the net proceeds
Negotiating the best price for your business is not much use if large amounts disappear as tax. Tax planning is an essential consideration. This sets us apart from many ‘business sales agents’ who lack this expertise. We encourage you to think about exit planning at the earliest opportunity to ensure that you retain the maximum net cash proceeds.
Development Capital
We can help you to finance your business growth in the best way. An injection of capital from an external source will often unlock further growth potential.
Burton Sweet Corporate Finance work closely with owner-managers to assess the funding requirements of the company and shareholders and conclude which source of capital is the most suitable.
We can provide business owners with a combined solution by releasing some of the value tied up in the business, at the same time as raising development capital.
Due Diligence Investigations
An acquisition carries potential risks as well as potential rewards. For example, the target company’s underlying profitability may not be as strong as represented by the vendors. Additionally, the company’s assets may be overvalued. Our due diligence services seek to minimise these risks, and ensure that the price you pay for the business is a fair one. We will agree a specific scope for each assignment.
External funders
Our reports express clear opinions on the key considerations such as:
- Quality and sustainability of earnings
- Achievability of forecasts
- Identifying business drivers
- Capability of target company management
Vendor due diligence
As part of grooming a business for a disposal, we offer a ‘vendor due diligence’ service. This can range from a ‘health check’ on any specific areas of concern to an objective report on the business being sold for potential purchasers. When appropriate, pro-actively managing the due diligence process in this way can add value and control your disposal by:
- Identifying areas of weakness so that they can be addressed before a purchaser reviews the business or instructs their own due diligence assignment
- Ensuring that commercially sensitive information is provided to buyers in a controlled fashion
Click here to download our Corporate Finance team information sheet.
ACTION:
If you would like more information or would like to ask us a question then contact your nearest office. To ask us a question online click here.
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