If a carefully structured transaction is the hardest component of a successful financing, the easiest component would be the actual funding. Money has a predicable flow. Typically, it follows the path of least resistance or ‘risk’. Each investor or transaction participant views risk differently based upon their understanding and ability to manage the risk. A mortgage lender would not be a good source for an automobile loan. A bank is often a poor source of funding for a start-up company. It is not that they don’t have money to invest, it is that they have defined a specific market niche that they understand and are able to manage.
The intent of an appropriate financial structure would be to isolate and allocate risk to the most appropriate parties. This activity forms the basis of financial engineering and successful funding. Each transaction will have a variety of inherent risks. Once a risk is isolated, it is carefully structured so as to attract a specific party that is ‘pre-qualified’ to understand and manage the risk. Funding takes place after a carefully selected group of ‘qualified participants’ has been contacted and asked to provide a competitive bid for their participation.
Funding is relatively simple if the financial engineer and the funding manager have a deep reservoir of funding relationships that they know and understand. Over the course of its history, Southworth has participated in many complex international transactions that amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. These transactions cover a wide range of assets, industries and countries. In the successful completion of each transaction, a diversity of structures, investors and strategic partners were utilized. This diversity contributes to Southworth’s wide range of prospects for future funding. In addition, Southworth International maintains relationships with some of the most progressive and internationally conditioned investors and companies worldwide. These companies have and are investing many millions of dollars to broadening their market presence. Southworth understands their interest and motivation. Each transaction is carefully structured so as to include the most relevant and appropriate investor prospects.