Private Equity Talks

In today's podcast, we sit down with Mounir Guen [Moose] CEO of MVision and Johanna Barr, MD & Global Co-Head of Limited Partner Services  from Advent International to discuss the state of the fundraising market, how to gain traction with LPs and how long the fundraising bull  run can keep going.

On today's programme we will delve into the world of asset-based lending (ABL). Before the financial crisis, ABL was a debt product on the fringes, the place to go when trouble loomed and mainstream lenders had shut their doors. Although still seen as a niche product by many, especially in the private equity community, a thriving community of independent providers have worked hard to change perceptions and show sponsors what they can do. It hasn’t always been easy. Debt is plentiful and direct lenders have swooped in and rapidly grown market share. But ABL has been making inroads. According to UK Finance, the number of businesses using ABL facilities now stands at 40,000 and the number of larger companies with a turnover of £10m or more Moderator: Nicholas Neveling, Editorial Director, Real Deals Speakers: Nick Leitch, Managing Director, Business Finance at Shawbrook Bank Andy Dimmock, Company Director at FRP Debt Advisory

Today we will be discussing how the emergence of unitranche has transformed acquisition finance markets over the last five to ten years; and what its popularity means for the future. Over less than a decade, unitranche has grown from a quirky debt offering provided by a few new market entrants into the financing structure of choice for the majority of mid-market deals. Unitranche lenders ripped up the acquisition finance rule book, shedding the need for amortisation and certain covenants and simplifying capital structures through the provision of one piece of debt at a single price point. It has helped direct lenders to hoover up market share from the once dominant High Street banks and opened up the market for a new generation of debt funds and challenger banks Moderator: Nicholas Neveling, Editorial Director, Real Deals Speakers: Jennifer Murray, Senior Director, Leveraged Finance at Shawbrook Bank Katie McMenamin, Solicitor at  Travers Smith

At first glance taking on debt may seem like an odd thing for start-ups that are cash flow negative to consider, but the creation of a venture debt community has been identified as a crucial cornerstone of any thriving start-up ecosystem. Indeed, in her eponymous and landmark study on that state of the UK start-up scene, serial entrepreneur Sherry Coutu listed the creation of a thriving venture debt market as a key enabler of rapid company growth. The numbers tell the story. In the thriving and established US venture market, around a fifth of US companies take on venture debt. In the UK the figure is less than 10%. This podcast will help understand how venture debt supports companies in scale-up mode, and dig into why sponsors and entrepreneurs should seriously consider taking it on.  Moderator: Nicholas Neveling, Editorial Director, Real Deals Speakers: Will Chappel, Head of Growth Capital & Venture at Shawbrook Bank  Giles Hawkins, a partner at law firm Ashfords