World Perspective

Michel BergeronAccording a recent study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, one of the main stumbling blocks for contractors who are being established business is the financing of transition.

"Whether you are a seller or a buyer, financing is often make or break the deal," says Michel Bergeron, Vice President, Corporate Relations. A major challenge in the purchase or sale of a business is that it inevitably involves intangibles, "said Bergeron. "We could deal of goodwill assets such as your brand, customer lists, expertise and management team employees' skills and research and development expenses," he says. "While most financial institutions will examine your hard assets such as buildings, land and equipment, the lack of leverage on the value of intangible assets in the case," he says.

Another challenge faced by entrepreneurs looking for financing is the current transition from the family estate to sell to foreign buyers. "Factors such as children and a more educated population decline means that the companies often go outside their immediate circle of selling today. In turn, these buyers and sellers tend to be less accommodative and that is more difficult to obtain the transaction entirely financed by the seller, "he said.

The good financing solution
BDC can provide entrepreneurs with solutions that meet their specific needs, whether a term loan secured by fixed or intangible assets. Ultimately, the future of your business and cash flow overall success will determine the quantity or type of financing that you may receive. "If your business is growing but lacks the safeguards required by lenders, the BDC can offer excellent alternatives," says Bergeron.

Your options
As a greater risk of financial institution, the BDC can provide specialized transition term unsecured financing to cover intangibles. For example, the subordinate financing is based on the risk and benefit-sharing. It mimics debt financing, because you are required to repay the loan, which includes a coupon fixed interest such as a provision for stock options, warrants or royalties on future sales. At the same time, funding subordinate shares some characteristics of equity financing because it is subordinated to secured lenders and repayment is based on cash flow rather than the depreciation of the value of the assets of the company.

The right structure deals
Another challenge for companies is to find the right deal structure. "It's a simple equation when you look. When you sell your company, you have to ask yourself, how will I pay for my buyer? When you buy, you need to know how you are going to pay for your purchase, and to continue to invest and the operation of your business, "he says.

"As a general rule, the buyer can wait 3 sources of funding in a bid," he said, buyer's own investment, the balance of the sale from the seller, also known as a vendor to resume , and external financing from a financial institution. "You have to work closely with the financial institution and the vendor to arrive at the best structure. From the point of view of the seller, you may be in part to finance the transaction especially if there is only one buyer in order to ensure a smooth transition and continuity of the company. From the standpoint of the buyer, you do not want to stifle your company just be able to manage your debts. You need free cash flow to fuel the growth of your business, "he says.

CDB, for example, can provide entrepreneurs a higher percentage of capital funding to free up working capital for the transition and transaction costs, such as human resource planning, management coaching and consulting fees.

The added advantage of the good consultation advice
With the numbers side of starting a business transition, BDC Consulting can also help you plan your transition, whether you are passing the business to a family member or selling it to outside interests. "Our consultants deal with the human aspect of succession planning, helping to define, develop and implement a plan that ensures the success and growth of your company," he says. One of the most important steps is to evaluate all the options available for the removal of a company. "The strategy should take account of a contractor personnel and business objectives. Obtaining an external point of view can help business owners through a complex process that includes addressing issues such as the evaluation of companies , the income tax, family matters and coaching successor, "he concludes.

My husband and I recently visited Egypt for a five-day in the city of Cairo.

It was not a press trip and therefore associates / pampered binding was absent, there were no bells and whistles that make it very easy to view a destination through pink glasses.

We traveled in economy class and for the first time in many years, even bought a vacation package with a famous regional airline, just for the ease and convenience.

Our flight was more than satisfactory as we are no strangers to "sit at the back of the bus", but it was the experience on the ground, which was disappointing and made us realize that Egypt needs a tourism industry overhaul.

Make no mistake, the system is efficient, but it is just that - a system in which every tourist has been pushed into a bus and treated as a herd, ready to be milked of their hard-earned cash. This seems harsh, but after five days in Egypt, I felt as if I was nothing more than a human ATM.

There was no genuine gestures of good will that make you want to pay a gratuity. Instead we were faced with attempts to puncture sincerity us of our wages against our wishes.

We were told to pay tips and we were told that we would be outrageously priced attending a spectacular sound and light show at the famous Giza Pyramids.

There has been no attempt to actually ask ourselves what we would do on our holidays and when we cancelled the cheesy sounding overly dramatic light, it did not go down well with the young and inexperienced handler.

We felt as though the tourists were treated with contempt, we were there to participate in our life savings, as it was our duty to keep dipping into this bottomless pit.

The hotel did not escape hawkers, a trip to the toilet saw me spend more than a penny "- try a couple of Egyptian pounds. But I had to laugh when our doorman, after delivering our bags in our room, we have asked to submit his CV off Montgomerie Golf Club one occasion that we would return to Dubai. You can not beat an opportunist!

Back to the pyramid and we were shocked by the coup of security measures as well as blatant attempts of the tourist police for us to open our wallets. As a result, we spent very little time to watch the giant tomb of Cheops, tired of the hassle and stress and are thus far from our visit to one of the original seven wonders.

On a cheerier note, once we had buried barter and tours with a taxi driver to take us than untrodden paths, our holiday took a turn for the better.

Cairo offers a remarkable history, culture and architecture, not to mention some very unique sites, sounds, smells, and goosebumps, but memorable experiences in 40 years that require taxis push-start.

And that's why millions of tourists still flock to Egypt every year - but think how many more would visit or make a return if the tourism industry in Egypt has taken steps to address some of questions that I have just outlined?

I am in no rush to go back to Cairo, because I can not tolerate being constantly hassled for money at every turn.

Yes, most of the tourists come from privileged countries, but that is no excuse for treating them as if they have money to burn.