Strategic planning services assist clients in developing a detailed strategic direction for the enterprise over a three to five year period. A strategic plan typically begins with an assessment of the client’s external situation. This assessment includes a market assessment analysis, a competitive evaluation, a technology assessment, a supplier market assessment, and a look at… Read more »
Articles
Planning: A Necessity for Business Owners
Denial, procrastination and daily distractions all conspire to prevent business owners from completing the personal planning that is an absolutely vital component of a successful business. Business owners also need to plan for a liquidity event. If an owner becomes incapacitated, a plan must be in place that will allow the business to continue functioning… Read more »
Alternative Financing: Four Routes to Raising Capital Today
Despite the current turmoil in the venture capital sector, top caliber companies still attract outside capital, although at far more “realistic” valuations than previously, coupled with more stringent market-driven terms and conditions. Expanding upon the issues raised by the Panel, the article below compares the pluses and minuses of a variety of alternative sources of funding… Read more »
Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures: Benefit from a Strong Focus Track Record of Sell-Side and Buy-Side Transactions
Focus Enterprises’ industry expertise, research capabilities and highly developed network of contacts provide a solid base for initiating transactions, as well as for identifying and evaluating potential sellers, buyers and partners. Our Partners help clients restructure their businesses and assist clients in developing realistic corporate development, acquisition, merger or divestiture plans. Since these activities are… Read more »
Twelve Value Drivers Help Ensure Success in Today’s Tough M&A Environment: PART 2
FOREWORD: At Focus Enterprises, we believe excellent opportunities exist for buyers and sellers alike who apply certain disciplines in today’s depressed merger and acquisition climate. Marshall Graham, founder and Chairman of Focus Enterprises, Inc. has written a comprehensive definition of twelve proven value components or “Value Drivers” that, when applied rigorously, can mean the difference… Read more »
Twelve Value Drivers Help Ensure Success in Today’s Tough M&A Environment: PART 1
Today, buyers and sellers are more cautious than ever before. Pre-LOI due diligence is lasting much longer prior to firm deal terms being agreed upon. There is much more focus on forecasted revenues and stable and growing customer bases. Integration planning on paper is taking longer prior to the execution of a Letter of Intent. Finally, management teams, while extremely important in all M&A activity, are becoming much more central to success in today’s M&A transactions.
Strategic Partnering: How Focus Enterprises Can Help
Strategic partnering services assist Focus clients in finding and developing relationships with other companies that have products and/or technologies that can benefit from additional sales channels, marketing skills, engineering expertise, manufacturing capacity or investment. Strategic partnering arrangements can take the form of a license agreement, a joint venture, a sale and service agreement, a contract… Read more »
Keep Strategy Front and Center in Merger and Acquisition Integration
FOREWORD: For over 20 years Focus Enterprises has maintained that strategy should drive M&A activity, not the reverse. In the article below, Mitchell Lee Marks focuses on the characteristics of successful integration and persuasively argues integration aspects of the same case. Reprinted with the permission of the author, this article also appeared in The Deal on… Read more »
Private Equity Investing: Today’s Challenges
Private equity groups, including holding companies and early stage venture capital firms, face growing challenges today more than they have since the mid-to-late 1990s. With the public markets currently closed, a very slow economic recovery and the lowest corporate valuations in a decade, private equity investors are spending almost 100% of their time concentrating on… Read more »