CORPORATE FINANCE

The following case studies are just a small sample of the type of situation handled by personnel from Christie Griffith. If any of these cases strike a chord with you or if you would like to discuss how we could be of assistance in any similar situations, please give us a call.

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND PLANNING

Our client’s business interests were wide ranging and included farms, care homes, a hotel and property development. The funding arrangements were complex and included four banks who in total were owed about £36 million. Overall the business was asset rich and made profits but had poor cash flow.

The client’s business strategy was to reduce debt through a process of asset realisations and improved profitability. We translated the strategy into a detailed business plan and financial projections.

The plan has enabled a complex, multi banked business to monitor the implementation of its strategy and thereby assist the stakeholders in monitoring their individual positions.

ACQUISITION SUPPORT AND RAISING FINANCE

Our client is a Scottish based business who had negotiated in principal to buy a £100 million turnover business in North England for a price of about £15 million. Our role was to take the steps necessary to raise the acquisition finance and advise generally on deal management We worked closely with management and prospective bankers to implement the deal which was duly delivered and is now generating excellent profits for the enlarged group.

We have been involved in a number of other finance raising cases – comprising management buy outs, technology companies and finance for expansion.

DUE DILIGENCE

Following a successful management buy-out, the directors sought to expand the business with the development and sale of several new products. In the event the sales forecast fell short of the targets. The end result was that the company struggled to fund both its loan repayments and development costs – thereby threatening an otherwise healthy core business.

Our role was to evaluate the options available to the company and in particular advise on realistic future funding requirements. This enabled the company and its bankers to take steps to put the appropriate funds in place to protect the core business and at the same time control development expenditure within agreed facility levels.

DILIGENCE

We regularly act on behalf of banks and investors to carry out financial due diligence.  Here are some examples of the work that we have done.

INVESTOR DUE DILIGENCE

We were acting for two venture capital houses that were investing £4million in an early stage technology company in the oil and gas sector.  The acquisition vehicle was set-up to facilitate a management-buy-in with capital for expansion and the target company had been trading as a start-up for several years.  The deal was to be completed in less than 4 weeks and we provided financial due diligence on the target and acquisition vehicle.

BANK DUE DILIGENCE