Stadf Finance

Archive for the ‘Capital Finance’ Category

The field of corporate finance deals with the decisions of finance taken by corporations along with the analysis and the tools required for taking such decisions. The principle aim of corporate finance is enhancing the corporate value and at the same time reducing the financial risks of the company. In addition to this, corporate finance also deals in getting the maximum returns on the invested capital of the company. The major concepts of corporate finance are applied to the problems of finance encountered by all type of firms. Corporate finance group deals with medium and large corporate clients and offers complete solutions to meet our clients’ financial requirements. The management of corporate finance attempts to maximize the firm’s value by making investments in the projects that have a positive yield. The finance options for such projects have to be done in a proper manner.

            Achieving the goals of corporate finance requires that any corporate investment be financed appropriately. Management must therefore identify the optimal mix of financing-the capital structures that result in maximum value. Management must also attempt to match the financing mix to the asset being financed as closely as possible, in terms of both timing and cash flows. Many factors should be considered like investment objectives, policy frameworks, institutional structure, sources of financing and expenditure framework etc. There are various considerations where shareholders pay tax on dividends, companies may elect to retain earnings, or to perform a stock buyback, in both cases increasing the value of shares outstanding etc. Thus, the goal of corporate finance is the maximization of firm value. In the context of long term, capital investment decisions, firm value is enhanced through appropriately selecting and funding NPV positive investments. These investments, in turn, have implications in terms of cash flow and cost of capital.

            Investment banking is one of the most global industries and is hence continuously challenged to respond to new developments and innovation in the global financial markets. It deals with raising capital, trading in securities and managing corporate mergers and acquisitions. Investment banks earn profit from companies and governments by raising money through issuing and selling various securities. There are many investment banks operating in the field of investment banking and finance. Investment banks, or I-banks, issue securities, manage portfolios of financial assets, trade securities, help investors purchase securities, provide financial advice, and support services. Finance areas are responsible for an investment bank’s capital management and risk monitoring. By tracking and analyzing the capital flows of the firm, the Finance division is the principal adviser to senior management on essential areas such as controlling the firm’s global risk exposure and the profitability and structure of the firm’s various businesses.

            When raising capital for a firm, an investment bank is acting as an intermediary between investors and the issuer. Capital raised can come from private investors or from pools of capital obtained within the public markets. They also engage in numerous proprietary activities in the financial markets. Investment banks also provide merger and acquisition services, both on the buy and sell side of a deal. The buy side involves identifying and facilitating the acquisition of a target company, while the sell side involves taking a client company to market at auction and identifying and facilitating the sale to a high bidder or acquirer with a strong strategic fit.

            New products with higher margins are constantly invented and manufactured by bankers in hopes of winning over clients and developing trading know-how in new markets in the field of investment banking. Product coverage groups focus on financial products, such as mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance, equity, and high-grade debt. Thus, investment banking and finance can be one of the best options for your investment management and capital structuring.

Commercial finance is one of the many options available to entrepreneurs seeking capital to start or grow an existing business. This sort of financing is also referred to as asset-based lending, meaning that it is a secured business loan. The borrower guarantees the loan by giving up business assets as collateral for the loan. Another popular phrase for commercial finance is asset-based finance.

Account receivable factoring is one form of commercial finance. This consists of selling open invoices for cash that can be used right away in the business. There are many benefits to this financing option including not giving up equity, being able to take advantage of early payment and volume discounts from your suppliers, you can actually purchase in greater volume from suppliers, and you also accrue no additional debt in your business.

Another popular commercial finance option is purchase order financing because it offers quick cash flow reserves. When any business is growing or expanding their business the cash flow simply isn’t there because of the money it takes to market and produce products. Suppliers also want to be paid with C.O.D. and your customers are on Net-30 terms; so you run into a cash flow problem. Purchase order financing solves this issue by paying for the costs of your goods directly to the supplier, thus giving you more cash to use on more critical business expenditures. To begin with purchase order financing simply obtain a purchase order from your customer, find an approved supplier, place the order through that supplier.

Asset based loans, an additional commercial finance option, provide a short term approach to maximizing cash flow within a business. This form of financing is used as test for a business to show how they would perform with a long term loan. The business who is receiving the asset based loan has a short window to prove that with the proper financing their business model is effective, and that a long term loan would ensure business growth over a long period of time. This form of financing is perfect for the business that can’t afford to wait to establish their business credit. The assets that are accepted as collateral for this type of loan include real property, accounts receivables, and completed inventory.

Other forms of commercial finance include bankruptcy reorganization, expansion financing, import and export financing, inventory loans, secured lines of credit, and merchant account advances. Financing a business is a difficult process, but if you utilize the financing resources available, your business have a much greater chance of success.

It is also good to work on establishing your business credit, ensuring that you separate your personal credit from your business credit. With good business credit scores obtaining large loans and other forms of capital is very simple, and you won’t be one of the 97 percent that actually have a loan application denied. One other strategy that is easy to do and beneficial on your quest for business capital is to use a free business capital search engine.

In planning for a successful funding campaign, you must expose your investment opportunity to enough investors.

The Kugarand Theory of Investing states that for every …

1 investor who invests,

3 say they will invest, and

15 investors were exposed to your investment opportunity to get to the three to get to the one Investor who actually invests.

For example, if your company is raising $1 million dollars and has a minimum investment of $25,000, then your company is seeking 40 investors,

($1,000,000 / $25,000 = 40). For your company to get the 40 investors to invest, you will need to exposure 600 investors to your investment opportunity,

(40 x 15 = 600 investors).

Find out how many investors you will need to expose to your opportunity using this formula.

A = How much money are you raising?

B = What is your minimum investment amount?

A/B = C

C = Number of investments needed

C * 15 = Number of investors who need to be exposed to your investment opportunity

Now that you understand exactly how many investors need to be exposed to your investment opportunity, you can plan accordingly.

Investor relation campaigns expose, generate and promote investment opportunities to investors through strategic planning of your company’s investment opportunity. Activities to gain exposure include:

? Participation in investor events

? Customized investor events

? Press releases and promotion

? Direct mail campaigns to investors

? Email marketing campaigns to investors

? Investor phone calls

? Web marketing

? Investor interest articles

? Public online investment portals

? Private secure online investment portals with confidential investment information and due diligence documents

Investor relations campaign should include the following:

? Simplified method to communicate opportunity to investors so they will take the time to learn enough about the opportunity to be enticed to invest more time in learning more.

? Combination of group presentations and one on one investor meetings to provide an opportunity for the client to “tell their story”

? Passive marketing to the interest areas of the investor community through email, press releases, and interview on radio and TV broadcasts.

? Direct Mail to reach those investors that do not respond to other means of communication, targeted based on geography and industry preference.

? System to capture investor interest and respond accordingly

? Ongoing communication strategy to communicate updates to investors so they can see the progress and move a semi-interested investor to an interested and motivated investor

? A centralized point of information so that no matter how the investor first hears of the opportunity they have a source of information they can go to.

Learn more at www.launchfn.com