OUR THINKING is
that wealth will increasingly be generated by global networks of people.
Unique
our approach as an international Joint Venture consultant manager is unique. We emphasize Balance so as not to interfere with the ability of the owner managers to work and generate value and Cashflow.
International Joint Ventures
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Bringing assets, global teams, capability and opportunity together via Joint Ventures is economically ideal for SMEs. Mergers, acquisitions tend to involve large advisory and administrative costs and bring with them more effort and cost in terms of management integration and upheaval.
SMEs, owner managers and entrepreneurs who have cross border opportunities are more successful with international Joint ventures and have double the economic value. In our opinion owner manager SMEs are not economically aligned for M&A.
Competition
Many people, businesses, approaches, opportunities are going global via social media. One has to assume global competition locally. The growing global network is generating nonlinear effects.
Working together
Cross-border opportunity means international teams, cultures, language and management. As we are not multi nationals with unlimited resources this means we must work to eliminate conflict and drama. We therefore have to select our partners carefully. Those who invest and those who we work with. We won’t embark on a project until we think the team is right.
The key target market.
Owner managers, SMEs, Cross border.
Owner managers
In North and South America owner managers are so busy running their businesses they don’t have time or money to get to know people and the cross-border opportunities they hold. We are aiming to remove that bottle neck.
Working with owner managers who are good at what they do can create value. Owner managers who demonstrate integrity, and who are practical and commercial in their approach to generating Cashflow. Owner managers who have an international mind set and are great working with global teams and on global opportunities. These persons are self-made uncelebrated and simply focused on what they do. We seek to learn from and work with them.
The SME Theme
Small medium enterprises are defined as firms Less than 500 employees, Firm value less than USD100M. This group in both North and South America face real problems. In USA SMEs are the economic engine but get taxed unfairly. Congress seems to think SMEs are the same as multinationals. SMEs in Latam struggle to access capital to grow their businesses. Latam owner managers face serious risks as owners and managers.
Cross-border
a lot of small Medium sized firms and owner managers get relatively little in-depth focus in the press. The media focused on large multinational stories and events and people. The theme is large corporate. Small medium cross border firms exploit opportunity that is not tapped by other SMEs who are domestically focused. US. Can do culture and capital combined with the right opportunities we believe will lead to profits and Cashflow.
Cashflow.
We believe in positive Cashflow. We seek it. We think it is ultimately very important for SME international businesses.
North America
We think the market in North America presents a lot of opportunity. The US can do culture is still a global phenomenon despite the economic changes faced by the US. Our view is simply that change is constant. It is therefore in US to select the best investments or projects. Some sectors simply have costs that are too high for small to medium sized investors and businesses. In particular we think this is the case for oil and gas. There is a large amount of talent capability and capital in oil and gas in US, much of which is not the majors and multinationals.
Fund raising and of Latin America
We think that there is a lot of untapped opportunity in Latin American for SME firms that generate cashflows. Banks and banking syndicates will typically not lend SME firms with less than US$100M. Portfolios of firms and opportunities such as these are where we see long term value.
International banking
for owner managers doing international business it is becoming impossible to obtain “private Client level service. They cannot implement sophisticated solutions. They are about to be serviced by AI as banks grapple with compliance globally. We think there are opportunities created by this global problem.
Local capability
Above all. To bring capital and opportunity together, is one thing. Always there must be the ability, locally, to deploy capital, work with people and generate Cashflow. The ability to be commercial, allocating operational focus to revenue and cost. How to deal with government bureaucracy, local community, the integrity of the local supply chain and suppliers. We seek and work with owner managers who are unsung but who know how generate value. There are no short cuts. SMEs and their owners do not get deferred prosecution agreements. We avoid political intrigue.
International tax
We believe in legal arrangements. At all times. This does not mean however that money needs to be left on the table. International tax is about ideas and their implementation. We endeavoring to implement ideas.
Compliance.
The glue that binds. The layer that protects. Anti-money laundering compliance and anti-bribery and other protocols are built into our business model. We believe compliance is asset protection for our partners who invest or work with us.
