Customer Case Study - Forward Corporate Finance
Find out why Forward CF relies on MarktoMarket to find robust M&A and valuation data
Industry
CoRporate Finance
Size
4 Staff (+1 Intern)
Location
East Anglia
Client Focus
SMEs
Customer Profile
Established in 2017, Forward Corporate Finance is a boutique advisory firm that provides independent, tailored corporate finance, consulting and private equity services in East Anglia and the South East.
Forward is dedicated to helping owners and managers of businesses to plan for and achieve their strategic goals. Whether that is a business sale, management buyout or strategic acquisition, the firm works closely with its clients to ensure each transaction is properly planned and efficiently executed.
The team at Forward are SME specialists and tend to focus on businesses in the £1-4m EBITDA range.
Why is data important to Forward Corporate Finance?
As with most Corporate Finance advisers, data plays a key role within Forward. Many deal metrics go unreported at the smaller end of the market, so having the right platform that extracts and collects data in a single place removes hours of research and digging through multiple sources. The team uses the data collected by MarktoMarket to support company valuations as part of wider Sale Mandate and Management Buy Out project work, extracting details and providing an auditable trail. This gives improved credibility to valuations and initial pitch information.
“An unrivalled feature of the database in our experience is the level of detail that the software is able to extract in relation to deals within the SME marketplace – an area where deal metrics are notoriously difficult to get hold of but much in demand among advisers working in this space.”
Will Neill – Corporate Finance Associate
Forward relies on the MarktoMarket platform as it is user-friendly and can identify multiple company valuation metrics to help with suitable benchmarks for their projects. In any project, valuation is key. When starting a new project, establishing a suitable company value is crucial for all stakeholders. MarktoMarket’s data stands up to scrutiny, allowing Forward to confidently present their valuations, reinforcing their position at the negotiation table.
We have been using MarktoMarket at Forward for just over a year now and it has transformed the way we look for deal comps, valuations and conduct buyer research. The speed in which we can pull relevant data from the platform has significantly expedited up our internal processes and given us time to focus on other tasks.
Why Did Forward Choose MarktoMarket?
SME Focus
MarktoMarket is especially good at extracting deal metrics at the lower end of the market, which can be arduous to identify. MarktoMarket usually has the full accounts, which are often not available, and would need to be found from numerous sources.
Buyer Research
Forward has been able to actively and successfully seek out relevant buyers and acquisitive companies within different industries.
Deal Origination
The new marketplace within MarktoMarket has allowed Forward to identify and progress in discussions with potential targets on behalf of clients.
Ease of Use and Sharing Information with the Team
Having a single platform allows Forward to create and share projects around their team, facilitating improved collaboration.
How Has MarktoMarket Improved Workflow?
MarktoMarket’s company profiles show a full corporate structure chart. This allows Forward not only to see a complete breakdown of a company and if it is owned by any larger entity, but to also identify relevant stakeholders to contact. This allows them to find the best route into the company.
MarktoMarket’s Deal function trawls the internet for contact information and email addresses for any relevant team members. Once the Forward team have created their buyer list, this function helps them to identify and get in touch with the most appropriate people.
MarktoMarket speeds up the research process across Forward’s projects. From the initial search to extracting information for pitch packs and documents, MarktoMarket greatly improves team efficiency.
What Does The Team Say About MarktoMarket?
“The recent introduction of the deal origination module helps connect buy and sell-side advisers in order to facilitate M&A transactions, which has proven to be a useful tool that we have actively used.”
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