Worldwide Finance Awards 2021

Acquisition International - 2021 Worldwide Finance Awards 12 Acquisition International - 2021 Worldwide Finance Awards Best M&A Advisory Firm – Middle East anCap is a perfect case study that highlights the benefits of working with a boutique firm when you are looking for financial advise. The founders and management team at ManCap have always ensured that utmost care and detailed attention is provided to all of its clients and that each client is considered second to none. This practice has been the key factor in building long-standing relationships with the clients, and driving ManCap to great heights since inception. Founded in 2011, ManCap’s expertise lies within the education, healthcare, and food and beverage sectors, its vision being to provide world-class financial advisory to its clients including family businesses, strategic investors and private equity asset managers in order to maximise their investment returns. Since ManCap’s inception, its growth has been guided by four core values which involve putting clients’ and investors’ interests before the company’s own; leading deals diligently with attention to detail; building a qualified and experienced team; and tackling challenges M through innovative solutions while analysing every possible scenario. In the ever-changing investment environment, these core values have proven vital in keeping ManCap ahead of its competition and in delivering desired results for its clients. In order to provide clients with the best possible advise and to maximise their returns, ManCap works extensively with them to gather in-depth understanding of their business model, market positioning and strengths in order to maximize their potential value and mitigate risks. Backed by years of experience, ManCap team understands the insights of the industries it operates in and therefore, is well-placed to provide client-specific investment solutions. The team believes in investing significant time and effort into research and deal preparation, while solving issues at hand with out-of-the-box practical ideas. As a result, the company has a best-in-class track record with an >80% highest success rate and repeat business with several clients. ManCap’s businessmodel hasmostly been resilient tomacroeconomic factors primarily due to the defensive sectors it operates in, i.e. education, healthcare and food and beverage sector. In 2021, ManCap has successfully launched several transactions across various investment banking segments, i.e. equity M&A advisory, private debt advisory and advisory on public market listing in Saudi Arabia. Its deal pipeline is strong with a cumulative deal value of all transactions amounting to $500m, and it does expect that 2021 will conclude as a much stronger year as the industry tries to move past the pandemic. Company: Manhattan Capital Middle East Contact: Mr. Rouland Al Mardini Email: rouland@manhattancapital.me Website: www.manhattancapital.me Headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Manhattan Capital Middle East (ManCap) is an award-winning boutique M&A advisory firm which specialises in growth capital and buy-out private equity transactions, for both buy- side and sell-side clients. ManCap is run by a small group of seasoned investment professionals who are experienced in the international as well as regional investment market, providing the firm with the right mix of experience to achieve exceptional results. Jun21050 Company: exficon GmbH Contact: Chiara-Felicitas Otto Email: chiara-felicitas. otto@exficon.de Website: www.exficon.de Best Africa-Focused Export Finance Consultancy 2021 ince its incorporation, exficon has been involved in numerous export and project finance transactions, with its clients including international project developers, European exporters (midcap to DAX30 companies) and/or their general importers operating under an official distributor’s license, and public authorities, governmental agencies or government-owned entities. Occasionally, exficon is mandated by commercial banks or development institutions to structure transactions on their behalf or to provide expert views on existing structures. It is well-connected to a large number of banks and financing institutions, both for commercial financings and for funding of projects with a promotional/development focus. It is a company that has all of the ingredients needed to make transactions a real success – extensive structuring capability of complex transactions (especially required for ECA- or PRI-covered export finance structures or the implementation of PPPs/PFIs or IPPs), cross-industry knowledge, outstanding product expertise regarding foreign trade finance and structured financings, and skills on how to appropriately handle economic and political risks in emerging and developing countries. As early as 2012, exficon prepared itself to accept assignments as tender or sourcing agent and the team gained expert knowledge in German and international procurement laws and the operational doings (and legal aspects) around tender agent activities. As of today, the company is looking back on more than 150 successfully managed assignments as tender agent or sourcing agent (which usually includes conducting the entire technical tender procedure and the evaluation of the most suitable financing solution for the products being sourced in the technical tender part). The exficon team is characterised by a true teamwork culture and by deep intercultural understanding for clients (with more than 10 languages spoken among employees), and it is always composed in a way to optimally address the project’s or the client’s requirements. The firm has the ability to cover a wide range of services in addition to the classical structuring and financial engineering activities such as S capacity building, cash flow modelling of projects or the administration of tender procedures. It can assure clients that it always works as a highly motivated team dedicated to making the project a success. exficon doesn’t only share the enthusiasm of a project – it multiplies it! exficon’s staff work based on the common understanding that they can all count and rely on each other, and as a result, they all work seamlessly on each assignment. All members of the team are highly motivated, best-educated and willing to constantly learn and to broaden their horizons with and for the clients’ needs. They do not shy away from challenges – the challenge will be taken and the diverse team will find a solution. To date, it has always found one. Speaking of challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic has been one to hit the German SMEs heftily, as these companies form the backbone of German exporters. Exports have significantly slowed down– especially due to the travel restrictions, disruptions in international logistics and insecurities regarding the current conditions in the project/import countries. exficon has current mandates for many export projects and it sees the delays arising from the aforementioned challenges. The effects on the business are obvious and foreseeable, but the company is confident that with the reopening of international borders and the subsequent increase of international trade activities that the usual workload will return – for the company as well as for its clients. Despite the difficult overall market situation, exficon managed to achieve a record year in 2020. It is constantly learning with and through its clients, continuously developing new strategies or structures for putting together the best tailor-made financing solutions. It completed a digitalisation project in 2020, an e-procurement product that provides digital service for electronic procurement within the business unit, tender agency desk, which successfully hit the market and has received an overwhelmingly positive response from clients. Indeed, exficon is more than confident that the year 2021 will be a successful one – despite the ongoing pandemic. Founded in the summer of 2011 by Managing Director, Mrs. Chiara-Felicitas Otto, exficon GmbH is a Germany- based export finance consulting and tender agency desk which offers expert consulting services regarding bankability of export and project finance transactions with a strong focus on enabling bankable deals across the African continent, with activities in 25+ countries. May21628 Rouland Al Mardini - Managing Director Siddharth Sinha - Senior Vice President