Corporate Finance

We work closely with one of Manchester's most reputable and successful corporate finance practices to help design and deliver solutions for our clients in the following areas:

Access to funding

We can introduce you to suitable providers of finance, be they banks, venture capitalists or business angels. By understanding your business and your requirements, we can formulate the most appropriate funding structure and can project manage the process from start to finish. We will help you to produce a comprehensive business plan comprising not only detailed financial projections, but a strategic analysis of where your business is now, where you want it to be, and how you propose to get it there. With a huge list of potential funding contacts and an in-depth understanding of the current lending climate, we can make sure that your proposal is pitched in front of funders who we know will have an appetite for your business plan.

Disposing of your business

From carrying out a thorough valuation, to helping you identify and approach suitable, potential purchasers, our expertise will assist you in maximising your after-tax proceeds from the disposal of your business. We can make approaches to possible acquirers on your behalf and, once a buyer has been found, manage the complexities of the deal including negotiations, due diligence and legal and taxation issues. It may be that you are looking to dispose of your entire business, or just part of it - maybe a particular division or subsidiary. Either way, expert professional advice is essential if you are to achieve your goals effectively.

Acquisitions

Growing by acquiring competitors is a rapid way of building market share. The potential to strip out duplicated costs post-acquisition means that value can often be added to the target by the acquirer within a very short period of time. We can help you identify suitable target companies, be they in the UK, Europe or further afield. We will approach them on your behalf and carry out valuations, advising you along the way on the pros and cons of each potential deal. We will negotiate for you and, when the right deal is struck, we will project manage the acquisition process, from carrying out due diligence to advising on the most appropriate funding structure and sourcing the necessary finance for you. There is much that can go wrong during an acquisition, so experience and expertise from your professional advisers is an absolute must.

Management Buy-outs (MBO) and Buy-ins (MBI)

An MBO takes place where existing key managers decide to buy the company for which they already work. An MBI takes place where a group of people buy in to a company for which they do not currently work. Both of these have become increasingly popular in recent years, driven by the fact that many senior executives get frustrated with the limited number of opportunities for advancement available within their company. Instead, they pull together one or more like-minded colleagues and attempt to secure funding to buy either their employer or, if that isn't feasible or attractive, perhaps a competitor. MBO's and MBI's can be lengthy, drawn-out and stressful processes, and require very careful project management, not to mention assistance with drafting business plans, financial projections, due diligence, legal matters and approaching and pitching the proposal to funders who are likely to have a good appetite for the deal.