The IPO process

Future business development outlook









Taking a company through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) is a time - consuming process that is outside the experience of many entrepreneurs or executives in small - medium and many large-sized enterprises.

Preparing a company often uses up considerable management time. It is not just about writing a good business plan. That is only part of the story. It is about ensuring the company is in good order and "investment-ready".

Our IPO services

We provide consulting services to help you prepare for the entire IPO process.

Business Planning
If you are considering an IPO, one of the early things you need to do is to prepare a business plan. Whether you ultimately go public or seek alternative finance, it will be an invaluable tool in developing your business. A business plan will facilitate discussions with investment bankers and corporate advisers.

They will need a detailed understanding of your business, how it makes money, why it will be attractive to investors, and how you are going to use funds raised in your IPO. A good business plan will also greatly facilitate the production of a prospectus or listing document — and provide a framework for communicating your investment story to investors, analysts and the financial community.

We help you to prepare or refine your business plan before you start the IPO process, saving time and money and help the IPO process proceed more.

International Business Development
Many companies seek an IPO to raise their profile and raise funds to support international expansion. The Pertinax Partnership includes partners specialised in outsourced business development who can provide you with an immediate European or US presence and rapidly and cost-effectively plan and kick start your expansion into Europe and the USA.

We act as your internal analysts
Facing questions from the investment community for the first time can be daunting. Managing investors' and analysts' perceptions of your business is crucial to maintaining their trust and securing your own credibility with them. Investors' and analysts' perceptions will strongly influence the valuation of your company.

We help you to understand how investment analysts will view your company and prepare you to address the issues they will raise. We also help you refine your investment story to enhance the attractiveness of your company to investors, and achieve a better valuation during at IPO.

Preparing to approach brokers and NOMADs
If you are not adequately prepared, you will waste considerable time and effort and tarnish your company's name in the City. Nominated Advisers, or NOMADs, and investment bankers are not business consultants, and are not paid for sorting out your business - they are too busy for that. Unless you are ready for an IPO, they will not be interested in taking you on as a client. We ensure you are adequately prepared for such meetings, and that you have addressed important issues such as corporate governance and management control systems. We may also be able to help you source non-executive directors.

Selecting advisers
You will need to hire a broker, a nominated adviser, lawyers, reporting accountants and financial PR firms for the IPO transaction – and it is important to select the right ones, as it will affect the successfulness of the IPO as well as the fees.

Our extensive City connections and our experience enable us to cut through the City's "mystique". We help you to find the right advisers for your company, both in terms of quality and cost. We help to keep transaction costs low by ensuring you are properly organised for the IPO process.

Support for the IPO process
Once advisers have been selected, there is a considerable amount of work to do for the management team in preparing for the IPO. We guide and support you through the process as internal advisers, allowing you to minimise the distractions from the day-to-day running of your business.

Communications with investors
Regular and consistent communications with investors is crucial to ensure that you have their on-going support. It is also important to attract new investors into the share capital to ensure a strong share price and liquidity in your shares. Hiring financial public relations consultants will get you part of the way — but it is no substitute for having a clearly defined and structured strategic plan for communicating with investors. Unless you devote time to communicating a clearly thought through strategy and a structured news flow to the investment community, you will not receive the attention you deserve. We help you to manage the communication process and ensure that the right information is communicated accurately and in the right context.

Support for non-UK companies
An IPO is daunting enough for British companies — but non-UK companies face additional challenges, especially if English is not your first language and you are based in a completely different time zone.

British business culture, especially in the City, also has its quirks, and there is danger that if you are unlucky, your transaction fees can escalate beyond what is reasonable. Our partners provide you with a trusted team of professionals in the UK to assist you in managing both the IPO process and your presence in London. If required, we will also work with you to establish a business development operation in the UK and EU.

Please call us for a no obligation exploratory discussion

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