Introduction

A City based investment banking friend told me recently that his firm believed that around nineteen out of every twenty start ups fail at the moment – which, he explained was why he would not commit his firms’ money to supporting any start up – no matter how promising.
Tourmalet has just completed its first year of trading and seems to have avoided joining the nineteen out of twenty failures!
Our brief overview aims to inform current (and future) friends just what has been achieved in the last twelve months and perhaps pass on a few thoughts from the front line.

Our Clients

We have worked with a wide range of clients over the last year – from the listed company through to the start up and are grateful for the opportunity to have undertaken some fascinating work.
Highlight of the year was the successful sale to Nikko Principal Investments Ltd, the owners of inter alia Cabot, the UK’s leading debt purchase company of Clarity Credit Management Solutions Ltd.

Clarity encapsulates the essence of what we want to achieve at Tourmalet. Founded in January 2005 Clarity was a true green field start up, bringing together private capital and outstanding management talent. Growth was spectacular - within 18 months over 20 people were employed and twelve major customers were keeping them busy.
The sale to NPIL enabled the private investors, who had borne the significant start up risks, to free up their capital whilst giving Nikko an acquisition which has great synergy with Cabot.
Tourmalet founder Chris Jones chaired the Clarity board from establishment through to sale and Tourmalet advised on not only the sale to NPIL but also two rights issues and funding negotiations with Clarity’s bankers as well as handling a number of corporate governance and structural issues.
Tourmalet are proud to have been involved with Clarity and wish the company well for what is surely destined to be an exciting future.

The year has also seen Tourmalet undertake a number of other projects. Here are some examples.
· Advising a successful and well established family business on corporate governance issues and management of a significant claim.
· Advising an SME on financial and marketing issues.
· Advising on the establishment and structuring of a corporate vehicle for the purchase of debt assets.
· Reviewing subsidiary/parent relationships within a listed company.
· Reviewing debt structuring in a well established family business.

Tourmalet founder Chris Jones also found himself working on key remuneration issues for a major financial institution and acting as board liaison on a major acquisition by the same firm.

The list is longer than we could reasonably have hoped!

The Market

We are not economists!

However here are some thoughts from the street.

· There is a lot of money, both private and institutional, looking for deals that take returns to a level beyond the more conventional investments.
· The appetite for risk (or lack of it) means that some of those that have funds struggle to spend them.
· Start ups are pretty frightening for the inexperienced! No wonder so many fail.
· A proper and robust corporate structure must be in place from day one if a start up is to have a chance – too many don’t come near to fulfilling that requirement.
· Financial assets are causing a lot of interest. Look at the money going into the non-conforming lending sector!
· You can’t put too much effort into structuring management incentive packages.
· The turnaround market is a tough one - not the deals there were.
· Properly structured start ups have a great chance of making it in the current market.

Can We Help You?

Tourmalet offers a rather different consultancy. We get involved – we care. We offer depth and breadth of experience across the business spectrum combined with extensive professional knowledge. We have access to significant private capital.
We can work with start ups or public companies but believe we can make a difference across the range.

Tel: 01943 609117 or 07860 523727
Email: chris@tourmaletconsulting.com