Acquisition financing underwriting usually focuses on business and financial issues that underpin the stability of cash flow. Providers of acquisition financing usually validate the durability of a company’s competitive advantage and the depth of its resource base. Environmental issues are usually not a major part of the analysis in today’s service and technology-based economy.
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In the acquisition financing world, there is a lot of publicly available information on different funds and structural approaches which allows a first deal neophyte to get up to speed quickly. After a deep dive online, most deal sponsors can gain a basic understanding of how to do an acquisition financing deal.
Acquisition financing is often viewed as a wall street phenomenon that does not apply to most mid-sized companies. While big deals make the headlines, thousands of smaller middle market deals attest to the breadth and depth of the acquisition financing market. Acquisition financing is a tool for corporate scaling and should be a component of the growth tool kit for every growth-oriented organization regardless of its stage of development.
Acquisition financing is driven by a multitude of forces both macroeconomic and microeconomic in nature. Analyzing the creditworthiness of a company seeking acquisition financing is primarily an exercise in fundamental analysis wherein financial performance, balance sheet strength and competitive positioning is judged. Yet behind the specific focus on the quality of the company, acquisition financing providers hold a general view on the overall credit markets and the timing of the credit cycle.
The mezzanine debt closing process involves a number of stages subject to varying levels of borrower control. Some of these things are 100% within the control of the borrower and others are far outside their control. The diligence process consumes the majority of the time, and it is highly dependent on the quality of the financial information. This is usually the single biggest hurdle in the mezzanine debt closing process and is also the most controllable from the borrower’s perspective.