Conversations with Thought Leaders from the M&A Community
Tom Turner – Deutsche Bank Principal Finance – Credit Market Update
Posted by John Slater on July 23, 2008
Disclaimer: The opinions or recommendations expressed are those of the author and are not representative of Deutsche Bank AG as a whole.
Tom Turner is a Vice President in the Principal Finance Group of Deutsche Bank, the world’s sixteenth largest bank ranked by shareholder equity. Principal Finance delivers global expertise across a wide range of markets, industries and asset classes. The Principal Finance group provides leveraged financing solutions to middle market and larger borrowers. It can provide liquidity for both performing and non-performing assets in transactions ranging from $20 million to $2 billion. Acting on a principal basis, DB can execute transactions that otherwise may not be possible in traditional capital markets. Investments take the form of senior, subordinated or mezzanine debt, customized credit derivatives and selected equity.
- Focus areas include:
- Illiquid Asset Financing
- Acquisition financing
- Contract monetization
- Project/Infrastructure finance in developed and emerging markets
- Renewable energy financing
In this interview Tom talks about the current state of the credit markets and gives his insight as to the future course of the liquidity crisis currently underway. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Tom was employed on the agency side of the street where he was responsible for managing debt financings in aggregate principal amount exceeding $50 billion.
Length: This audio interview is about 23 minutes long.
Categories: Strategic Buyers, Intermediaries, Merger Integration, Industry Sectors, Private Equity, Financial Planning, Business Sale, Business Acquisition, Negotiation, Valuation, Audio
Tags: acquisitions, cross border M&A, M&A, mergers, mergers and acquisitions, multinationals, Private Equity
James O. Futterknecht, Jr - A Pioneer of Private Equity
Posted by John Slater on April 16, 2008
Our guest today, Jim Futterknecht, has witnessed the private equity industry almost from its beginning. Jim has been involved in the automotive OEM supply industry since joining Excel Industries, Inc. as a line foreman in 1970. He served in a variety of sales and sales management roles at Excel in the 70’s and was elected Vice President of Sales and a member of the Board of Directors of Excel in 1976.
In 1983 Jim was part of a senior management group that purchased Excel in a highly leveraged buyout engineered by Hammond, Kennedy and Whitney Co. Back then there were no “private equity” firms. They were called LBO shops. Excel was the sort of buyout that most investors can only dream of, growing from $40 million in revenues at the time of the acquisition to a public company with over a billion dollars in revenue at the time of its sale.
Over time Jim’s role expanded into operational responsibly as well as sales. In 1986 he led a strategic project resulting in Ford Motor Company becoming Excel’s largest shareholder, largest customer, and largest supplier. In 1990, he was elected Executive Vice President and in 1992 promoted to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer. He became Chairman, Present and CEO in 1995. In 1999 Jim led the merger of Excel into Dura Automotive Systems, Inc and joined the Dura Board.
Jim is currently a partner in Hammond, Kennedy and Whitney Co., a small cap private equity firm (www.hkwinc.com). Jim is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (1969), happily married for 37 years, and the proud father of 2 adult daughters.
Length: This audio interview is about 27 minutes long.
Categories: Private Equity, Industry Sectors, Negotiation, Business Acquisition, Business Sale, Audio
Tags: acquisitions, cross border M&A, M&A, mergers and acquisitions, multinationals, Private Equity
Doug Rodgers - The World Takes Center Stage
Posted by John Slater on February 4, 2008
Like many of you in our industry, I have spent the last month trying to understand the impact of the credit squeeze and the equity and debt market declines on the M&A market. I don’t purport to have the answer to where the stock market will be next month or even whether we are going to really have a recession (though my personal guess is that we’ve been in a mild contraction over the last ninety days and if we’re lucky we may already be nearing the end of the slide).
What I do see clearly is that the current events are part of a much larger picture in which the U. S. economy has become a major player in a multipolar world and no longer the dominant economic factor in the world scene. For an interesting perspective on this subject, read Parag Khanna’s article in the January 27, 2008 New York Times entitled Waiving Goodbye to Hegemony.
Even more important to our industry is the coming emergence of the transnational corporation as a dominant force in world economics. I purposely use the term transnational rather than multinational, because these future behemoths will no longer be tied through ownership or political control to any specific nation or even any specific regional bloc. Their operations will be spread around the globe reflecting customer markets and the comparative economic advantages of specific regions such as the relative price and availability of various inputs, including labor, capital and raw materials and the relative friendliness of various political regimes. Headquarters can be anywhere or everywhere and the country of incorporation will depend on factors such as local tax policy and the availability of a supportive legal system. What all of this means to our political and social institutions is best left to others to decipher. What it means to us is that over the next fifteen years we will witness a pervasive wave of cross-border M&A. In industry after industry it will no longer be sufficient to be the leader in a local market, country or even region. Success will require global presence and global presence requires consolidation.
At Focus LLC we are witnessing the early stirrings of this trend today in our own practice. Over the past year and a half approximately half of our closed transactions involved a non-U. S. buyer from countries as diverse as
Length: This interview is about 21 minutes.
