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The term nano gap was coined by accounting firm Deloitte to describe the shortage of capital to fund the retirement of baby-boomer entrepreneurs seeking to sell their small, medium enterprises (SMEs). [1] In the Deloitte report: "Micro-cap typically refers to those companies with an equity value of less than $250 million. Nano-cap is another term that is used to refer to companies with a value of less than $10 million."
In Canada, the retirement and sale of baby boomer businesses has been described as one of the largest ongoing generational transfers of wealth in the country's history. Estimates as to the size of this transfer range as high as $1.9 trillion over the next two decades. [2] [3]
The demographic trend driving this transfer is powerful. According to Statistics Canada there are 1.4 million small businesses in Canada. Almost all of them are owned by baby boomers. More than half of all SME owners in Canada are set to retire over the next decade with between 300,000 and 500,000 are planning to transfer control of their companies within the next five years. [4] [5]
The nano-gap issue arises as there is a shortage of organized capital in the $2 to $20M acquisition range. Because of this sellers are facing relatively low valuations. This in turn represents a largely un-recognized buying opportunity. "With a glut of baby boomer-owned SMEs imminently available, there is an untapped and growing opportunity for Canadian private equity firms to realize significant value at the low end of the micro-cap market. Canada is arriving at a natural inflection point where baby boomer small business owners will need to consider selling. This will sharply increase the supply of available businesses – a market reality that simply did not exist five or ten years ago". [6] [7] It has been estimated that almost $2 trillion of businesses will be coming up for sale over the next decade which is twice as large as the assets of the top 1,000 Canadian pension plans and approximately the same size as Canadian annual GDP. [8]
There is a limited amount of PE capital in Canada and very little focusing on this nano-gap market as reflected by the higher overall returns to PE investments in Canada and particularly to smaller PE transactions. According to the CVCA, over the last 10 years Canadian PE has generated 14.2% CAGRs while the US (sub $250 million deal size) generated only 3.4% over the same time frame. [9]
According to Alberta Treasury Branch research "baby boomer SMEs owners/operators are nearing retirement age. In fact, four in ten (42%) of the financial decision makers we talked to are 55 years of age or older. Another ATB survey (ATB Customer Advisory Panel Feb 21, 2013 - Mar 7, 2013) found nearly six in ten (58%) businesses do not have a succession plan in place. And of those 55 years of age or older, almost half (48%) do not have a succession plan. Top reasons cited were: "it's too early to plan", "I don't know", "I don't want to think about leaving", and "I don't have time to deal with the issue". [10]
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
The Toronto Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in the EY Tower in Toronto's Financial District, the TSX is a wholly owned subsidiary of the TMX Group for the trading of senior equities.
Succession planning is a process and strategy for replacement planning or passing on leadership roles. It is used to identify and develop new, potential leaders who can move into leadership roles when they become vacant. Succession planning in dictatorships, monarchies, politics, and international relations is used to ensure continuity and prevention of power struggle. Within monarchies succession is settled by the order of succession. In business, succession planning entails developing internal people with managing or leadership potential to fill key hierarchical positions in the company. It is a process of identifying critical roles in a company and the core skills associated with those roles, and then identifying possible internal candidates to assume those roles when they become vacant. Succession planning also applies to small and family businesses where it is the process used to transition the ownership and management of a business to the next generation.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizations such as the World Bank, the OECD, European Union, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Business Development Bank of Canada is a Crown corporation and national development bank wholly owned by the Government of Canada, mandated to help create and develop Canadian businesses through financing, growth and transition capital, venture capital and advisory services, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.
Big Five is the name colloquially given to the five largest banks that dominate the banking industry of Canada: Bank of Montreal (BMO), Scotiabank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD).
CIBC Capital Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in Canadian and global equity and debt capital markets. The firm provides a variety of financial services including equity and debt capital market products, mergers and acquisitions, global markets, merchant banking, and other investment banking advisory services.
A middle-market or mid-market company is one that is larger than a small business and smaller than a big business. Different authorities use different metrics to compare company sizes — some look at revenue, others at either asset size or number of employees — with the result that different authorities give different definitions of the "middle market".
SME finance is the funding of small and medium-sized enterprises, and represents a major function of the general business finance market in which capital for different types of firms are supplied, acquired, and costed or priced. Capital is supplied through the business finance market in the form of bank loans and overdrafts; leasing and hire-purchase arrangements; equity/corporate bond issues; venture capital or private equity; asset-based finance such as factoring and invoice discounting, and government funding in the form of grants or loans.
CanDeal is a Canadian online exchange for Canadian dollar debt securities. It provides institutional investors access to liquidity for Canadian Government Bonds and money market instruments. CanDeal has offices in Toronto and Montreal and is owned by Canada's Six Major Banks and TMX Group.
TD Securities is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services provider that offers advisory and capital market services to corporate, government, and institutional clients worldwide. The firm provides services in corporate and investment banking, capital markets, and global transaction services.
CIBC Mellon is a joint venture founded in 1996 between the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and then Mellon Financial Corporation to offer asset servicing to institutional investors. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, it comprises two sister companies, CIBC Mellon Trust company and CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Company.
Trimaran Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity firm formerly affiliated with CIBC World Markets. Trimaran is headquartered in New York City and founded by former investment bankers from Drexel Burnham Lambert. Trimaran's predecessors were early investors in telecom and Internet businesses, most notably backing Global Crossing in 1997. Trimaran also led the first leveraged buyout of an integrated electric utility.
Exit planning is the preparation for the exit of an entrepreneur from their company to maximize the enterprise value of the company in a mergers and acquisitions transaction and thus their shareholder value, although other non-financial objectives may be pursued including the transition of the company to the next generation, sale to employees or management, or other altruistic, non-financial objectives. Exit planning differs from succession planning in that the later is a sub-component of exit planning, and refers to the hiring, training and retention of a successor President/CEO of the company in a planned manner. Succession Planning is but one of the many considerations when conducting exit planning. Company owners commonly do not see their company from the standpoint of a potential buyer, and thus, ignore the strategic management of the company.
HGGC, LLC is an American middle-market private equity firm based in Palo Alto, California, with over $7 billion of cumulative capital commitments. Since its inception in 2007, HGGC has completed transactions with an aggregate transaction value of $50 billion. The firm was named 2014 M&A Mid-Market Private Equity Firm of the Year by Mergers & Acquisitions magazine.
Financial technology is an industry composed of companies that use technology to offer financial services. These companies operate in insurance, asset management and payment, and numerous other industries. FinTech has emerged as a relatively new industry in India in the past few years. The Indian market has witnessed massive investments in various sectors adopting FinTech, which has been driven partly by the robust and effective government reforms that are pushing the country towards a digital economy. It has also been aided by the growing internet and smartphone penetration, leading to the adoption of digital technologies and the rise of FinTech in the country
Idinvest Partners, founded under the name AGF Private Equity, S.A in 1997, is a European private equity and venture capital firm. Operating as part of Allianz until 2010, Idinvest Partners then became independent. Idinvest Partners is based in Paris, France and has further offices in Frankfurt (Germany), Dubai, Madrid, Spain and Shanghai, China.
Kourtney Gibson is an American business executive. She is Chief Client Officer and Senior Executive Vice President of TIAA. She was formerly the president and vice executive chairman of Loop Capital, a privately held investment banking firm. Gibson is also on the boards of MarketAxess and Viterbo University, and was previously on the boards of University of Miami and Lululemon Athletica.
Megacap stocks are stocks with a capitalization or market value over $200 billion. In business and investing the market capitalization term megacap stock is also referred to as mega-cap in the United States. The companies are the largest publicly traded companies in the world. Capitalization is the total value of the outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Stocks under $200 billion are Large cap stocks. Megacap stocks are listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market or American Stock Exchange (AMEX). Market caps term may be different outside the United States.