How the 2026 turnaround can succeed in terms of financing

Due to the thre­ats posed by customs policy and inter­na­tio­nal wars, the finan­cial reser­ves of many compa­nies are dwind­ling. Added to this are the gene­ral reluc­tance to buy, cost increa­ses and struc­tu­ral problems. Despite or precis­ely because of finan­cial diffi­cul­ties and risks, many compa­nies are having to make far-reaching chan­ges in order to remain compe­ti­tive and survive on the market. They often have to funda­men­tally adapt their busi­ness models in order to meet chan­ging market condi­ti­ons, new custo­mer requi­re­ments and gene­ral econo­mic developments. 

As many compa­nies no longer have the resour­ces or the opera­tio­nal strength to imple­ment a realignment on their own, inves­tors are beco­ming more popu­lar via distres­sed M&A proces­ses. Such tran­sac­tions often repre­sent the last reali­stic oppor­tu­nity to preserve an econo­mic­ally ailing company in whole or in part — usually under considera­ble time and action pres­sure. Howe­ver, the sale of compa­nies in need of restruc­tu­ring is beco­ming incre­asingly difficult. 

For a turn­around to succeed — whether out of court and largely under one’s own steam, during insol­vency or as part of a distres­sed M&A process — it requi­res not only courage and perse­ver­ance, but above all suffi­ci­ent and relia­ble liquid funds. Howe­ver, it is often diffi­cult for compa­nies to main­tain these in such phases of uphe­aval. After all, 43% of the compa­nies surveyed in the econo­mic survey conduc­ted by the German Cham­ber of Indus­try and Commerce repor­ted a proble­ma­tic finan­cial situa­tion. Many are strugg­ling with liqui­dity bott­len­ecks and bad debts, among other things. Even if credit insti­tu­ti­ons are open to support in prin­ci­ple, the tradi­tio­nal banking system often proves to be too cumber­some in turn­around situa­tions. A company under­go­ing repo­si­tio­ning needs relia­ble commit­ments quickly in order to main­tain trust in the market and regain opera­tio­nal stabi­lity. Parti­cu­larly in a turn­around, it is worth looking at alter­na­tive forms of financing. 

Compa­nies with substan­tial fixed or current assets — such as machi­nery, vehic­les, produc­tion faci­li­ties, real estate or invent­ories — can release capi­tal using models such as asset-based credit or sale & lease back. Instead of rely­ing on credit­wort­hi­ness, these solu­ti­ons focus on assets — and ther­e­fore also work in times of crisis. 

They are suita­ble both for compa­nies under­go­ing precau­tio­nary restruc­tu­ring and for those under­go­ing court-orde­red restruc­tu­ring procee­dings. The liqui­dity gained can be used imme­dia­tely for measu­res that are stra­te­gi­cally important for survival. 

Short to medium-term special finan­cing asset-based credit is parti­cu­larly suita­ble for manu­fac­tu­ring compa­nies, retail­ers and service provi­ders. They can use both their current and mova­ble fixed assets as colla­te­ral. Finan­cing volu­mes typi­cally range from 400,000 to five million euros. Frequently used assets are machi­nery and produc­tion faci­li­ties, vehic­les, tangi­ble assets, stocks from commer­cial and finis­hed goods warehou­ses and real estate. — The finan­cing model is clas­si­fied as oppor­tu­nity finance as it can be used in a variety of ways — even in special situa­tions such as before, during or after a turnaround. 

Sale & Lease Back (SLB) is a special form of leasing that also works as pure inter­nal finan­cing in turn­around situa­tions. A company with an annual turno­ver of between five and 250 million euros sells its valuable, mobile fixed assets — such as machi­nery, plant or vehic­les — to a finan­cing part­ner and leases them back directly. Ongo­ing opera­ti­ons do not have to be inter­rupted: The assets remain in the company and can conti­nue to be used without rest­ric­tion. SLB usually impro­ves the equity ratio, which can have a posi­tive effect on the credit rating. In turn­around phases, this streng­thens the nego­tia­ting posi­tion with banks. 

Carl-Jan von der Goltz is the foun­der of Maturus Finance GmbHa bank-inde­pen­dent finan­cing company for new approa­ches to corpo­rate finan­cing. The finan­cial services provi­der supports medium-sized produ­cers who want to expand their finan­cing struc­ture through stra­te­gic addi­ti­ons to their banking rela­ti­onship. Finan­cing solu­ti­ons are offe­red from a volume of 400,000 euros and up to 15 million euros (current value of the machi­nes). This gene­rally corre­sponds to a company’s turno­ver of around 5 million euros to 250 million euros. 

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