Our newsletter is designed to bring to your mailbox a wealth of experience and news on acquisitions, project finance, direct investments. In general, on anything to do with investments in private enterprises - both in our region and globally.

In every issue, you will find articles on the latest trends that impact the M&A market, analysis of technical issues and our corporate news.

We always appreciate your feedback, so please feel free to email us

to share your thoughts, reactions, opinions. Suggestions for specific topics that you would like to be covered are also welcome.

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We decided not to feature specific deals in this Newsletter, but  to provide instead a broad overview of our dealflow.  A sampler can be downloaded here  in pdf format. 

Most of the deals are direct engagements, some have been referred to us by associates from overseas. Please do not distribute. 

Wanted by our Clients:

• Real Estate Agents: We have corporate clients who wish to sell prime property in Greece. As we are not into real estate sales, we invite Licensed Real Estate Agents in Greece to submit their credentials. They must specialize in Luxury Residential Properties and/or High-end Commercial Properties and be able to demonstrate an excellent track record.

• Small Bank/Non-EU jurisdiction: Company with extensive e-business operations seeks controlling interest or outright acquisition of Bank with Visa/Mastercard credit-card business.

In our previous Newsletter we featured an article about Non-funded Mergers, ie Mergers involving an amalgamation of assets, alternately only an exchange of shares - no money on the table.  You can download this article here.  

There is a lot of "merger talk" between companies of all sectors and sizes (including Banks), but it seems the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector is a trendsetter. Two major mergers have already been completed, while several importers/distributors have announced collaborations in distribution, which could lead to mergers.

There are good reasons why the FMCG sector is a trailblaser:

• FMCG companies desperately need to counteract the power of big supermarket chains (the "bargaining power of buyers" under Porter's Five Forces model)
• There is a compelling case to rationalize logistics, which is their biggest operating-cost
• Few problems with competing brands and "cannibalization". None of the merged companies needs to withdraw products, unless the manufacturers demand it. On the contrary, offering competing brands in the same aisle of a supermarket is not necessarily a bad thing. This is a case where more is better.
• The growth of discount retailers (eg Lidl) with much more  integrated operations along the value-chain, is putting ever greater pressure on the traditional importer/ wholesaler/ distributor model. 

I am sure more mergers will follow, in all sectors of the economy.  Only the most adaptive and innovative will survive.

QUICK LINKS

Corporate Renewal, Turnaround and Restructuring

All trades get their time in the sun - sooner or later. Given the state of the economy in Europe, the above  services are a high-growth industry.  

There may be a handful of firms globally with a focus and specialization in fixing companies or, at the other extreme, in preventing involuntary liquidation. I am sure they have their hands full. Even more important, their services will be in demand for a long time to come (see  Comment Article)

Being by nature highly adaptive "animals", Consultants of all descriptions will certainly jump on the bandwagon. So, caution is needed, as this is not a job that can be handled by anybody.  

Whether you call it "Corporate Renewal" or  "Turnaround" or "Restructuring" it is a multi-functional, multi- dimensional task. It's not just about cost-cutting, or re-positioning or recapitalizing, or core business focus, or any other buzzword. There are no quick fixes, no off-the-shelf remedies.

A business in trouble needs a holistic approach and -more often than not - radical  measures. You have to get to the root of the problem, not just treat the symptoms.

So, you have to engage a team of carefully chosen experts,  delegate some power to them and give them time - months not weeks!  Which is why the initiative is usually taken by Investors or passive Shareholders, not Management (after all, very few CEOs will admit that they need help!). Ideally though, the mandate should come from all stakeholders which could include suppliers, creditors and Banks, depending on how close to insolvency you are.

It's also expensive - just like a trauma clinic or intensive care unit .... but then again, nobody really  wants to die, right?

What we Can Do:

We probably have more experience in turnarounds than most people who claim to be "experts".  Even so, it would be irresponsible on our part to undertake a turnaround project on our own. What we can do, is  work as part of a team of advisors which will diagnose the situation, assess all options, win consensus for a plan of action and then execute the turnaround.

Our main role in such a project would be to consider viable re-capitalization options, a merger with a healthy company or an outright sale of the business (or its assets). At a minimum, the project team should also include an industry veteran with deep, hands-on domain expertise and a management consultant with a proven track record in planning and executing turnarounds.