It’s been a busy 12 months for our corporate finance team at Foxley Kingham delivering two sales and three purchases for clients. All completed together with two complex restructurings, in a turbulent economic landscape. We caught up with Steve Sansom, our Associate Director and head of corporate finance to give us the rundown on how we have assisted clients to expand their businesses or supported their change in direction.
“The deal flow shows that purchases can be made in these times where finance is more difficult to arrange through innovative structuring and buyers wanting to make acquisitions. It is great for us to help clients buy and expand their businesses; not so pleasing to lose clients that sell but we strive to add value in either case.”
Sales, purchases, and restructurings
Foxley Kingham has the experience and track record to help business owners optimise their sale proceeds when they come to sell, as shown in recent sale mandates delivering £500k up to £5m for the client. In these circumstances, Steve highlights the importance of counting the after-tax money in the bank over the headline sale proceeds.
“We help clients to prepare for sale to show the business in its best light and to negotiate and structure both sales and purchases to maximise value. We identify and market to potential buyers to increase the audience and competition for clients looking to sell, resulting in maximising offers.”
“For clients looking to buy, we add value to the process through our buyer research and corporate finance deal advisory service. Enabling specific research to be carried out by geographic location or size provides strategic information beneficial in negotiations and due diligence to minimise the cost of purchases for clients.”
Every transaction is unique and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when selling or buying businesses – the diverse restructuring approaches from the last year are testament to this. One client looked to insert family investment companies in the group structure as part of a wider investment strategy and the other looked to create a group structure whilst also buying out a shareholder who wanted to leave the company. Complex, yet achievable with our corporate finance team’s expertise.
Steve has been involved in deal management for over 30 years on both the advisory side and as a company director managing top-level corporate finance transactions from £100,000 up to £20 million. He understands both the technical side and the challenges faced by the client when juggling day-to-day business activity with trying to manage the work associated with a sale or purchase mandate. Therefore, we take responsibility for managing the deal and ensure all parties fulfil their requirements on a timely basis so our clients can focus on maintaining the business.
Looking to the year ahead
The Spring budget contained minimal impact on businesses, however, Steve encourages business leaders to; “be prepared for things to change significantly before the end of the year with a general election on the horizon. Meaning that the window for tax opportunities may not be available for long if there is a change in government.”
How can the corporate finance team help you?
Foxley Kingham will do an assessment of the strategic and financial options, introduce you to financiers, identify targets, and assist in negotiations to make sure you receive the best possible terms. Our highly experienced advisers will project manage all parties to bring the deal in on time, providing you with the freedom to get on with running your business.
If you are thinking of selling or looking to expand by acquisition please get in touch to discuss further.