Target Company

Purchase price ideally $50 - 150 million – though numbers outside this range can be considered.

Company should be in sound financial state.

• Low levels of debt
• Cashflow positive - generating enough cash to pay down acquisition debt quickly profitable
• No major CAPEX requirements in order to make the company profitable
  

Industry

No hard and fast rules, but clearly some industries are more suitable than others in terms of both cash generation and falling within SBL’s areas of expertise.

Country

Again no hard and fast rules, but the political, economic and legal background in the country are important considerations. The main countries of CEE are key target area, but not to the exclusion of other countries.

Bidder

We are relying on the purchaser to run (and possibly restructure) the target company, and he therefore needs to demonstrate appropriate experience and expertise relevant to both the industrial sector and the geographical region. He should have a clear business plan for the target post acquisition.

We will, of course, look for a significant equity contribution. This will be much more convincing if it comes from the bidder himself rather than a third party – i.e. we want the bidder to have a lot to lose if the deal goes wrong. Ideally, the bidder will also have the resources (financial and otherwise) to correct the situation if things do start to go wrong.

Structure

There must, of course, be a full security package which would allow us the best possible access to the assets and cashflows of the target as well as the ability to step in and run and/or sell the target company if things go wrong.