Economic News / The World (21/03/2021)

At the end of 2019, ANQUOR CORPORATE FINANCE was created with the aim of providing Corporate Finance services at a national and international level, with a total and long-term commitment to its clients. “In our opinion, the only way to achieve this goal is to consider each project with each client in the same way that they take care of their companies”, explains Pascal Vieilledent, CEO.

“We have the ability to listen and understand the problems and projects of our existing and potential clients”

“Anquor acts with a clear vocation for service accompanying our clients throughout the process”

They offer all kinds of tailor-made services, using a values-based approach from a broad level of industry knowledge and experience. This tailor-made service is offered thanks to more than 30 years of experience of its partners (first with EUROHOLD, and now with ANQUOR) and with a support team that daily uses the most up-to-date tools (market databases, transactions, financial…).

Closures of companies and businesses, ERTES, drop in turnover… Have all sectors behaved the same during the pandemic? There have been very important differences. Some sectors have been severely hit, the hardest being air transport, tourism, hospitality and the retail of products that are not essential. On the contrary, everything related to health, online sales, food and technology have performed very well; in some cases one can even speak of a positive Covid effect. In the middle, some sectors in theory punished by the closure of points of sale have been able to survive thanks to online commerce.

Is it a good time to merge or acquire companies? Mergers tend to occur under various circumstances, one of which is when there is a contraction in demand. At times like this, the players in the sector have to band together to accommodate the reduction in demand. It is a good time for acquisitions because the companies that have held up well during 2020 have not seen their value affected by the crisis, given that there is still a lot of money in the market (particularly from Private Equity) and there is less Interesting projects to invest in. In the sectors hardest hit by the crisis, prices have fallen mechanically, and in some sub-sectors, the only way to make transactions was for buyers to agree not to impute the entire drop in value of the acquired companies, and that part of the price is subject to the fact that the years 2021 or 2022 are similar to the last good year, that is, 2019.

In this sense, having a good M&A advisor with knowledge of the different sectors should be basic… Yes. It is key to understand how a sector works in order to give the right advice. In these circumstances, an advisor must have a very deep vision and knowledge of the sectors in which he intends to act. In this sense, at ANQUOR we have been able to work well in health, food, logistics and tourism.

What is Anquor’s approach? Our approach consists, first, in the ability to listen and understand the problems and projects of our existing and potential clients. With our sectoral knowledge we propose a diagnosis, as well as our opinion on the actions to be undertaken. This dialogue is enriching for both parties, since it is about being specific enough to be able to find possible solutions, because there are always several and we have to be able to choose the most appropriate one in each situation for the company and the market.

What services do you offer your clients? Within the Corporate Finance sector, we mainly offer advice on mergers and acquisitions both in Spain and internationally, either directly in the countries we know best (France and Portugal) or through the leading international network in our sector, with direct presence in 35 countries, GLOBAL M&A ADVISORS (www.globalma.com) of which we are exclusive members for Spain since the 4th quarter of 2020. In general, ANQUOR CORPORATE FINANCE acts with a clear vocation for service and accompanies our clients throughout the process, from the conception and structuring of operations to their closing. This makes it possible to better preserve confidentiality, make it easier for the client to focus on their business and optimize processes, shortening deadlines and improving the quality of execution.

I understand… Our services could be defined as when the shareholders of a family or private company want to sell part or all of the capital, we carry out a customized and complete process. That is: definition of the type of operation, valuation of the company (with methods that the market currently uses and with the parameters updated at any time), preparation of an Information Memorandum (a dossier that is a true reflection of the company), organization of the negotiations with the potential interested parties and, once the principles of the transaction have been agreed upon, that is, a Letter of Intent or a Non-Binding Offer has been signed, we organize the virtual data-room (which speeds up the process of due-diligence) and we actively participate in the definitive closing of the transaction with the lawyers of both parties. For a purchase mandate process, we previously carry out a detailed study of the market to pre-select the companies that are best suited to our client’s requirements. In addition to the aforementioned merger-acquisition services, we also advise on strategy and financing. We offer this last service for two reasons: the market is requiring it, both for new financing and for the renegotiation of previous ones; and because we have partners with proven experience in this field in the ANQUOR CORPORATE FINANCE team.

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