Blogs

In the past the CCA did not cover agreements with partnerships. Because of the new definition of “individual” any new agreements with a partnership of no more than 3 partners or an unincorporated body of persons, will now fall within the scope of the regime.

Most brands have got more data and research than they know what to do with. Brand trackers, category maps, innovation scorecards, debriefs and due diligence reports. Information, however, is not the problem; what can sometimes be lacking is insight...

The major impact for a PE bidder of the recent changes to the Code is timing. The 28 day period to make an announcement of a firm intention to make an offer under new rule 2.6(a) was insufficient time for the boards of Coolabi and North to agree a structure for the transaction...

We recently hosted our inaugural Accelerator Dinner to gain a more in-depth understanding of what’s on the minds of brand owners charged with accelerating the growth of their brands in these challenging times.

Accelerator Brands – optimising growth Strategies for growth, post-purchase, are a crucial part of achieving a return on investment. But the plan is only as good as the confidence and conviction with which it is executed.

With any M&A or MBO, it is important that the lines of communication are kept open, even after the change has taken place, to monitor employee sentiment and gather and respond to feedback. There are a number of ways this can be achieved.

The aim is to ensure that everyone is able to identify with a part of their individual legacy. Making elements personable gives the companies recognition for their initiatives and facilitates bringing the best that each firm has to offer into the new phase.

A phased approach is often the most sensible route. It is important to make the physical, practical changes first, keeping staff focussed on the task in hand. Getting them involved – and understanding why the changes are being made – helps the business achieve its goals faster.

Any M&A or MBO situation is an intensive process for everyone involved, from staff through to the boardroom. However, it should be viewed as a catalyst for positive change in the business, driving out poor culture and behaviours - in essence, an opportunity to look at things afresh

While initially the AIFMD, in it’s original drafting, appeared to be a crushing piece of bureaucracy with the potential to stifle the global funds industry all together, what has happened in reality has been more of a shuffling about of funds offerings, rather than the full-blown Trade Bloc Tectonic earthquake we once feared.

Over the past three years my core responsibility has been overseeing mergers and acquisitions (M&A). We have acquired several businesses, both large and small, and more recently were acquired ourselves as part of a management buyout (MBO). M&A can become a bit of a machine: business cases, forecasts, heads, share purchase agreements, all resulting in the target company becoming a depersonalised ‘target’.

Generally, companies are more “cashflow” conscious and are preserving cash resources. However, cash rich companies have been taking advantage of the buyer's market: acquisition terms tend to be more buyer friendly, distressed companies are being sold at bargain prices, and much less consideration is being paid up front with higher percentages being deferred over longer periods with linked in set-off rights in case of buyer warranty and other claims.

Business travel is always the same, more or less, anywhere in the world you go. The only thing that can make flying a bit unpredictable is the weather. I, for one, hate turbulence. The M&A market kind of reminds me of a plane that hit some turbulence (back in 2008 and early 2009), but since then and according to our latest quarterly Deal Flow Indicator the market has regained cruising altitude.

Check the label on your favourite shirt and chances are you'll find it is made in China. In fact the products that make up your morning routine—toothbrush, coffee mug and iPhone—are yours because of successful supply chains between the exporting manufacturers who made them and the importers who brought them onto store shelves.

In ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, Charles Dickens once wrote: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Geoff Cook says this summed up the experience of his recent two-centre trip to Indian and the United Arab Emirates.

The guidance on the UK Bribery Act has finally been provided and the overall reaction has been one of cautious optimism - a far cry from the situation in April 2010 when the UK Bribery Act was passed. The collective grinding and gnashing of teeth amongst corporate and investment professionals was audible around the country.

Intangibles are starting to play a greater part within the asset mix and brands should in theory become the hot boardroom agenda item for corporate advisers, asset based lenders and company executives alike.Why then are brands treated in such a cavalier fashion?

I have seen the recent updates on lending figures from banks to SMEs, however it is clearly still too early to tell if Project Merlin is working, given the amount of time that has elapsed and the evidence available. That said, I am still not overly hopeful for the initiative. Funding for SMEs, an extremely important issue, seems to have become a political football.