ALTERNATIVE FINANCING FORMS
FOR ENTREPRENEURS AND INVESTORS
3 questions to smart minds

SMEs rely on strategic financing mix

For this 3 questions to Carl-Jan von der Golz

MATURUS
Photo: C. J. von der Golz
22. April 2015

A broad-based finan­cing struc­ture is beco­ming incre­asingly important for medium-sized compa­nies. In addi­tion to tradi­tio­nal credit finan­cing from banks, SMEs are also turning to alter­na­tive finan­cing models and addi­tio­nal lenders in order to increase their finan­cial flexi­bi­lity and become more inde­pen­dent. In this context, the purely object-rela­­ted and non-bonus finan­cing form of sale and lease back of used machi­nery and produc­tion equip­ment is also being given grea­ter conside­ra­tion by companies. 


For this 3 ques­ti­ons to Mana­ging Part­ner at Maturus Finance GmbH

1. For whom is such sale and lease back finan­cing suitable?

Sale & Lease Back is suita­ble for medium-sized manu­fac­tu­ring compa­nies that own a valuable, univer­sally usable and diver­si­fied machine park. This includes, for exam­ple, compa­nies from the mecha­ni­cal engi­nee­ring, metal, plas­tics or wood proces­sing, cons­truc­tion, food proces­sing, textile or prin­ting indus­tries etc.. In most cases, the capi­tal requi­re­ment is between EUR 0.25 million and EUR 10 million, which we can make available to medium-sized compa­nies quickly and flexi­bly via sale & lease back. This usually corre­sponds to annual sales of between 10 million euros and 200 million euros. In the context of finan­cing, our focus is on the value of the machi­nery and not on the credit­wort­hi­ness of the company, so that this approach is parti­cu­larly suita­ble for compa­nies under­go­ing reor­ga­niza­tion and restructuring.

2. On which occa­si­ons can the finan­cing model be used?

The occa­si­ons for the use of Sale & Lease Back are mani­fold. There is a need for addi­tio­nal liqui­dity for a wide variety of reasons, for exam­ple for the corpo­rate restruc­tu­ring proces­ses just mentio­ned or for the advance finan­cing of orders. Addi­tio­nal finan­cial resour­ces may also be requi­red to replace exis­ting forms of finan­cing such as mezza­nine, mini-bonds or bullet loans. Over the years, we have also assis­ted in a number of corpo­rate succes­si­ons in which former share­hol­ders were paid out or the focus was on finan­cing the acqui­si­tion of the company. Due to the object-rela­ted nature, sale & lease back can be used even in the case of insol­vency under certain condi­ti­ons, for exam­ple to finance the insol­vency plan or the debtor in self-admi­nis­tra­tion when taking over “his” company from insolvency.

3. How does Sale & Lease Back work in practice?

In the case of sale and lease back, used machi­nery and equip­ment are sold to a leasing company and the purchase price is paid directly to the company. Follo­wing the sale, the company leases back the machi­nes so that they can conti­nue to be used without a break. Sale & Lease Back provi­des the company with addi­tio­nal liqui­dity inde­pen­dent of banks and within the frame­work of pure inter­nal finan­cing. This can be used freely available without speci­fi­ca­ti­ons and rest­ric­tions. The lease install­ments repre­sent deduc­ti­ble opera­ting expen­ses to a signi­fi­cant extent and can gene­rally be finan­ced on an ongo­ing basis from the sales gene­ra­ted. It takes an average of six to eight weeks from initial cont­act to payment of the purchase price. 

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