Our Strategy · For advisers and intermediaries
A buyer that answers.
The Group’s criteria are published and its response times are stated. If a mandate fits the criteria, the Group will say so; if it does not, it will say that too, so that your time is not spent.
The criteria, for your files.
The criteria are on the Strategy page, and are the same for every reader. Six lines are enough: sector and what the business sells; where it trades and where its stock sits; revenue and EBITDA for the last three years, with the basis of the EBITDA; the share of revenue from returning or contracted customers; ownership and the reason for the sale; and the process you intend to run.
Screened in days, offered in writing.
Every teaser is screened against the criteria by the Chief Executive Officer. Where it fits, the Group’s Investment Committee gives an indicative view within five working days of screening, and a letter of intent follows within 10 working days of access to the data room. Every letter carries a response date of five to seven working days; every decline is given in writing with its reason.
What you can tell your client.
The Group does not take part in auctions. It does not negotiate materially on its own terms after it has submitted them, and it does not re-trade a price it has offered except for a matter the diligence uncovers that was not disclosed, downward only and in writing. It seeks 60 days of exclusivity, with one extension of 30, as the condition of confirmatory diligence, and it treats a vendor who will not grant exclusivity as not yet a vendor. It engages legal, accounting, and risk advisers on each transaction and pays for its own diligence. When a response date passes without an answer, the Group turns its attention elsewhere and says so.
Terms agreed before the introduction.
The Group works with regional corporate-finance boutiques, brokers, and professional intermediaries, and recognises introductions on terms agreed in writing before the introduction is made.