Investment Banking
Merger and acquisition advice has been a key aspect of Wm Sword & Co.'s business from the firm's inception in 1976. Industry practices have evolved during this period, as M&A transactions have become more commonplace and often companies have their own in-house teams that handle routine deals.
Wm Sword & Co. keeps evolving, too, providing critical resources, especially in the divestiture process, and adding value through:
- Wide-ranging and international network of contact among potential acquirers, both strategic and financial.
- Intensive selling effort employed.
- Sale process adapted to the situation, but carefully planned to create a competitive environment while keeping the maximum number of prospects interested.
- Adherence to time schedules and deadlines.
- Expertise in terms and conditions that can add or subtract from valuation.
- Knowledge of the buyers, including their reliability or tendency to backtrack from commitments.
- Negotiation skills to bring transactions to a successful conclusion.
Our firm is entirely focused on providing expert service to our client. We are vigilant about avoiding any conflict where the client's interests are in jeopardy. We refer to this as "intense fidelity to the client relationship".
We can make such as an undertaking because we do not manage capital and we are not in competition with the prospective investors / acquirers of your company. The larger firms in our industry all emphasize their principal investment activities (along with their other offerings). Inevitably, conflicts of interest arise and they interfere with providing the best service to clients. By contrast, we put the client's interests first, all the time.
A significant amount of our work has been representing large companies in divestiture assignments. Often a larger company has very special requirements when separating a business that has been part of the corporate family for some period of time. We are familiar with all of the aspects of a corporate divestiture, and the process is often more complex and freighted than the sale of a freestanding, independent company.
We have also successfully represented privately owned companies and smaller public companies in both acquisitions and divestitures. We know well the special requirements in divesting an entrepreneur-owned business or the sale of a family-owned business in which longstanding legacies are an important element.
To view our unique divestiture process, click here.