Background

Eames Consulting Group is an international recruitment and search consultancy, with headquarters in London and offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Zurich. The Group had a longstanding relationship with a major high street bank, which provided working capital support via an invoice discounting facility against its UK receivables. It had identified some strategic growth initiatives requiring additional working capital support for a relatively short time, to finance planned expansion until the investment delivered increased profits and cash generation.

FRP’s Debt Advisory team was asked to find an alternative lender to refinance the invoice discounting facility with a comprehensive, asset-based lending structure, which would provide the capital needed to finance the Group’s strategic growth.

Action

Our Debt Advisory team conducted a competitive process to identify a new asset-based lender, to maximise the working capital available to fund the Group’s continued sales and profit growth. Having first reviewed and considered the core collateral and financial data, the team identified additional working capital assets on the Group’s balance sheet that could be funded through an asset-based lending structure.

A combination of experienced management, high-quality assets and a clearly defined growth and development plan resulted in keen interest from the asset-based lending market, and a shortlist of lenders who could meet or exceed the Group’s key refinancing requirements was then drawn up. Two lenders were invited to meet the management, and two highly competitive and market-leading refinancing offers received.

Outcome

After a short period of discussions, during which both offers were further enhanced, Eames Consulting Group selected its financing partner, which offered the greatest working capital availability. FRP’s Debt Advisory team advised Eames Consulting Group during the legal documentation stage and through to completion of the refinance.