An abundance of capital is available in the market place to fund acquisitions, management buy-outs and organic growth. Alternative types of capital for established private companies typically include senior operating and term debt, asset based operating and term loans, equipment leasing, mezzanine debt, bridge loans, and private equity from a variety of institutional and private sources.
Successful financing is dependent on matching the financing opportunity with known lending criteria. Frustration is often exhibited by many companies who fail in their financing efforts despite the abundance of available capital. A thorough knowledge of the structures and criteria of alternative financing options as well as strong relationships with the funders ensures that fundraising efforts are targeted to those funders who will have a high level of interest in the financing opportunity.
Funder criteria includes deal size, purpose, industry, nature of the operations, stage of company development, historical and forecast profitability, quality and depth of management and asset security.
Similar to the divestiture process, the capital raising process consists of strategy, preparation, documentation, marketing, negotiating, due diligence and closing.
Sourcing the best deal terms available in the market place depends on the following:
- Strong relationships with funders to ensure rapid response and attention to the opportunity.
- Preparing a comprehensive financing memorandum including the terms and conditions of the requested financing, business plan, financial history and forecasts and investment highlights.
- Providing sufficient company information to enable lenders to provide term sheets in a timely manner.
- Preparing management for presentations to lenders including anticipated questions and issues.
- Creating a competitive environment by targeting and marketing to optimal lenders in a narrow time frame in order to generate multiple term sheets for comparison and negotiation.
Peter Day leads and manages the financing process including strategy, preparation, documentation, marketing, negotiating, due diligence and closing.