Brief History
EMC was formed in 1989 by experienced businessman and former Accountant of the Year Nik Askaroff to fill a gap in the market for practical hands-on support and mentoring for the owner/directors of SMEs. The team grew quickly with sales, marketing, production, financial direction, turnaround and corporate finance specialists able to assist with one-off projects or provide part-time retained Board-level support. The concept was dubbed the ‘mobile boardroom’ by the Financial Times and the members of our team were early adopters of a portfolio career that is now much more widespread.
Corporate Finance
In the late 1990s, as the business expanded across the region, EMC Corporate Finance Ltd was created as a wholly-owned subsidiary to recognise that transactions such as selling and buying businesses and raising capital had become a significant part of our offering.
Why use a corporate finance advisor?
EMC Today
Our operations now cover all of Kent and Sussex as well as large parts of Surrey and Hampshire and, of course, London. We look to keep our fee levels highly competitive and flexible and provide great value to clients and a fair reward to EMC. Many projects are on a results-based structure in order to share the rewards of success and minimise cost and risk to our clients.
The team has grown and evolved over the years. It still includes specialists from all the professional disciplines - finance, sales, marketing, strategic IT management and production - but now also has people with particular sector-specific skills and experience such as property, media and manufacturing, food distribution, professional services, technology and healthcare.
Although the offering has broadened, our core principle remains the same – to provide a high-level, experienced resource for SME owner/managers who require project or part-time assistance on a short or long-term basis.
Business sales and acquisitions now form a core part of our business and our vastly experienced, award-winning Corporate Finance team have helped to create dozens of millionaires over the last 25 years. The hands-on support and advice we offer owners during the development years enables us to use our strong working knowledge of their business to good advantage when we handle their eventual exit.
Client Offering
There is no typical EMC client model, but our retainer portfolio may include:
- Two/three days per week or one/two days per month finance, sales, production or IT director
- Non-executive chairman/director roles
- Trusted advisor/coach/mentor
- Part time executive director roles
On an assignment basis, areas we typically cover include:
- Business sales, acquisitions and fundraisings
- Preparing/grooming businesses for sale
- Interim director roles across finance, sales, operations and management
- Post-acquisition integration and management
- Management buyouts
- Crisis / turnaround management
- Property acquisition, financing, redevelopment and construction advice
- Market research
- Sales management and training
- Business development
- IT project management
We frequently work alongside other professionals, particularly accountants and lawyers, because the services we provide complement rather than replace what they do. Indeed, many will vouch for the fact that we make their lives easier as they cannot always devote the time to the business that the client requires. Bankers also welcome our involvement as our finance people ensure proper management reporting as well as a trusted independent and objective view.
