Equity investment

Investment opportunities come to EAC from a number of sources - management teams of businesses being sold who wish to undertake their own MBOs, experienced management teams or individuals who have already identified a target and need backing for an MBI or start-up, as well as opportunities referred to EAC by intermediaries including legal, accounting and investment banking professionals. Additionally, EAC targets investment opportunities in industry sectors it perceives to be attractive, usually because of changes taking place within the sector. EAC's primary aim is to ensure that a potential management team can deliver the performance and predicted profitability required to make the investment a success. As a part of this process and with a view to maximising value creation, EAC will, at the outset, identify several possible exit routes, typically in a three to five year time-frame, which may include stock market flotation or a potential sale to one of a number of trade purchasers. Emerging and rapidly changing areas of business where good management teams can quickly establish a leading edge position have provided significant investment opportunities for EAC. Often a single investment executive at EAC will take initial responsibility for an investment proposal and, after preliminary evaluation, will submit the proposition in outline to a weekly internal meeting for primary vetting. If an investment passes this initial stage, EAC can commit more manpower and professional resources to further evaluation of the proposal with the aim of producing a more definitive, comprehensive and detailed investment proposal for review by EAC's internal Investment Committee. Once this approval has been obtained, the full resources of EAC's professional staff and external advisers are committed with a view to completing the investment. Whilst the investment opportunity is being appraised, a template for information reporting and the measurement of progress of the management team's business plan is agreed with the management team. Investment progress is subsequently reviewed in detail against these pre-determined milestones. These reviews form the basis of further strategic input from EAC as required during the life of the investment. Once it becomes evident that the value-added elements of the management team's business plan have been achieved, EAC will work closely with the management towards a satisfactory exit from the investment.