Mergers & Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions enable companies to expand at a faster rate than by organic growth and, at the same time, take advantage of strategic market opportunities.

The benefits are attractive, particularly where acceptable organic growth might not be achievable from the existing facilities.  Nevertheless buying another business can be a high risk undertaking, especially if it is simply opportunistic and not a key component of the growth strategy.

Our objective is always to minimise that risk and ensure a ‘closeness of fit’ with the business objectives.

How we achieve success for our clients
Acquisitions are not an appropriate strategy for every business. Our extensive experience of diverse market sectors is fundamental to enabling us to properly advise on an acquisition strategy.

Involved, interested and committed
We take a leading role in the acquisition process and are very much involved in determining if acquiring another business is a legitimate strategy and how such a strategy should be pursued:

• With our client we develop an acquisition criteria. This is a ‘blueprint’ of the business that our client is seeking to acquire, and must fit with the acquisition strategy
• Comprehensive research facilities and contacts enable us to identify suitable acquisition opportunities
• We measure potential acquisition opportunities against the acquisition criteria to ensure a ‘closeness of fit’
• We advise on the structure of the deal and on an appropriate funding structure
• Clients, generally, have little experience of acquiring another business. We therefore lead and manage the entire process through to completion of the deal

Strategic Advice & Planning

Developing a focused and strategic direction for a business can often become a low priority for owner-managers. Day-to-day pressures can be time consuming, resulting in the critically important decisions about strategy and objectives being put off to ‘another day’.

How we achieve success for our clients
Our Corporate Finance Team has advised many businesses on strategy development. This process can significantly benefit from an independent view. Someone not connected with the business can provoke thought and discussion which often results in generating alternative options.

Professional advice
Strategy development is as important for the owners of the business as the business itself. We provide advice on:

• Exit strategies for the owners including ‘grooming for sale’ and succession planning
• Maximising shareholder value
• Advice on plans for strategy development, including organic growth and growth by acquisition

Raising Finance

Pursuing opportunities for profitable growth often requires additional development and working capital. A management buy out or acquisition requires funding to buy the business and working capital. Whatever the need it is important to ‘match’ the funding with the specific requirement.

How we achieve success for our clients
Whatever the need for finance is, it requires the presentation of a clearly defined strategy to potential funders. We know what they require and we negotiate the funding structure on individual circumstances.

Comprehensive Support
We have extensive professional contacts in the corporate finance community and excellent relationships with banks and equity providers. We are therefore able to take a measured and considered approach that benefits our clients in a number of ways:

• Funders know that we only present proposals to them which we believe are worthy of serious consideration and that we are therefore prepared to support
• In order to ascertain an initial view, we sometimes present an outline scenario to funders when we believe it might be difficult to raise finance or in situations that present difficult issues to overcome. Funders appreciate this method of approach and which avoids unnecessary costs for our client
• We highlight the business strengths and opportunities in the business plan. Importantly, we also acknowledge the weaknesses, and how they are being addressed and overcome
• We manage the transaction throughout the fund raising process and co-ordinate all those involved

For further information please contact Bob Gore T: 0161 817 6100  E: bob.gore@mitchellcharlesworth.co.uk or Paul McGerty T: 0151 255 2300  E:paul.mcgerty@mitchellcharlesworth.co.uk