When offering funding/ lending solutions to a business, you need the reassurance and confidence to know you’ve understood the risk and protected your position as securely as possible.
To do this you need to have an in-depth and robust knowledge of the business you’re funding, both at pre-lending stage and during the ongoing relationship with the client. Should things not go to plan and the business being funded goes through a restructuring or insolvency, it’s vital to have the appropriate third-party involvement who has the experience to advise you and your client through the process, and who can, if necessary, work with restructuring specialists to achieve the best result for all stakeholders and ultimately protect your interests.
What do we do?
Our team are ‘poachers turned gamekeepers’ meaning most are ex-commercial directors of main contractors or specialist subcontractors. All our team are chartered surveyors and are dual qualified. This means we have the expertise to understand businesses in the contractual and construction sectors, along with the potential issues which may impact the liquidated value of the assets being financed.
Find out more about how our contractual receivables advisory services work below.
Asset-based lenders
We advise asset-based lenders on the value of work in progress and receivables. Using our experience, combined with our understanding of each business, we provide clarity as to the collectability, the robustness of the forecasts and, in particular, the cashflows.
While instructions vary in size and complexity, our reviews are consistent. We look to understand the nature of what the borrower’s business does, its management structure, how they manage the tender process and live contracts, whether management processes are suited to the underlying contract and at what point the receivable is created.
We offer full-service support including:
- Pre-lending reviews: office-based desktop and/ or on-site pre-lending reviews to advise on the initial deal structuring and prepayment level.
- Regular audits: periodic desktop and/ or on-site audits of in-life clients to validate the ongoing robustness of the underlying security.
- One off on-site visits: at the request of the funder, we undertake an on-site review to understand the current trading and status of the live contracts as well as advise on exit route planning and the likely collectability of monies owed.
- Our findings: a written report includes recommendations on the pre-payment, funding limits validity and collectability of receivables, retentions and WIP, as well as recommendations of specific KPIs.
- Exit route planning: where appropriate, we advise on exit route strategies, planning and execution.
- Recovery: assistance in a recovery situation and, where needed, using the wider Gateley Vinden contract dispute services.
Restructuring professionals
We support restructuring professionals and insolvency practitioners from early-stage investigations through to advising on a turnaround or formal insolvency. We work alongside these professionals and provide accurate assessments of the current trading profile based on the value of the work in progress, collectability of the receivables and how the business has been administering the underlying contract.
We offer a full-service support including:
- Contract reviews: working alongside other professionals to initially review all current contracts, operational protocols and how the business has been managing procedures under the contract in order to identify any deficiencies.
- Validation: we validate the value of the work in progress and the collectability of the receivables to help inform the current and near-term cash requirements.
- Storage/ security: contract retrieval and secure storage.
- Exit route planning: assist in creating outcome scenarios based on the terms of the contract(s) with the aim to maximise realisations.
- Technical support: provide technical and practical support with short-term trading programmes as well as assist in the sale of the business or the novation of specific contracts.
- Collections/ recovery: debtor realisations and, where necessary, resolving contract disputes including taking this through alternative dispute resolution.
Who do we help?
Our clients include UK banks, independent finance and asset-based funders, many of the largest accountancy practices, restructuring and advisory firms and insolvency practitioners.
