Services

Fort Capital has acted on a diverse portfolio of successful sale, merger and acquisition transactions on behalf of both privately-held and publicly-traded clients of all sizes and across most industry sectors. We work closely with legal and tax advisors to ensure our clients are best positioned to achieve their overall objectives.

Our sale, merger and acquisition services include:

• Sell-side advisory mandates and other corporate divestitures
• Buy-side transactions for both private and public companies
• Public company mergers and going private transactions
• Strategic investments
• Other special or independent committee assignments

Fort Capital has skilled advisory professionals specifically dedicated to working with private companies on the sale of their small to medium size businesses (SMB’s). These transactions are typically valued between $5M and $50M.

As advisors, we design and execute the sale process, identify and engage with strong potential buyers, and guide you through each step, at all times ensuring we are building towards the best available outcome while also protecting you and your company in the process. We lead the preparations and overall execution but you should expect you and your team to be fully involved in the process in order to maximize the outcome of all terms, including valuation.

We combine the hands-on, bespoke work required to prepare a business for market with the benefits of scale. We leverage a large and growing network of credible, interested buyers across Canada and abroad to drive exceptional results for our private company clients.

Our partners work with companies to meet the challenge of raising growth equity capital, working closely with clients to carefully consider the issuer’s needs, current market conditions and risk comfort level. We add value through our experience in and knowledge of the sectors in which clients operate, and our ability to develop, approach and negotiate with an extensive network of targeted strategic, institutional, family office and high-net-worth investors.

Our role is to help clients raise equity capital on better terms, including higher valuations, than they would likely attain on their own, and in ways that will allow them to expand their business or meet other key objectives.

In situations where we are not best suited to meet a client’s needs, we provide candid advice with respect to other options. We identify as “long-term greedy,” which means we consistently build upon our reputation for being confident that our clients will find success when we do take on a mandate—and candid when we know the fit isn’t right.

Equity Capital raising services include:

• Growth, acquisition and bridge financing
• Recapitalizations and restructurings
• Staged liquidity transactions
• Advice on optimal capital structure
• Negotiation and structuring of placements

Fort Capital Securities Ltd. (or FCSL) is an “exempt market dealer”, registered with securities commissions from British Columbia through Quebec. Many of our partners are registered through FCSL as “dealing representatives”, allowing us to work with issuers on the placement of equity or debt securities to accredited investors.

Boards and Special Committees trust that Fort Capital will produce detailed, independent opinions that exceed the expectations and demands of the marketplace. Our work marries robust analytics with common sense and experience gained over decades working in the capital markets.

Fairness opinions are provided to our clients as a component of our primary work on M&A mandates; we’re also periodically engaged by Special Committees to provide independent assessments of transactions under review where other financial advisors have provided financial advice. Where these transactions involve related parties, a formal valuation of the target, and potentially the consideration offered, may be required, and Fort Capital is well positioned to provide these “capital V” valuations. Boards and Special Committees seeking quality advice and reports that are not simply rubber stamps, as well as the law firms that advise them, have found our work to be of an exceptional quality that adds value to the decision-making process, and strengthens the quality of a transaction presented to shareholders for their consideration. We’re proud to play a part in this important work.

Fort Capital opinions are prepared in compliance with standards as set out by both the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators (CICBV) and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (CIRO).

We deliver actionable advice with extensive experience across a broad range of sectors, as well as specific technical areas. Our partners’ collective experience allows us to consider a wide range of innovative options in the context of wider strategic objectives. With experience and relationships gained over decades working at larger banks and investment banks, we are then able to advise and guide our clients as they navigate and negotiate with these other, larger financial institutions on capital raising mandates.

How we can help:

Capital Markets Advisory

• IPO advisory roles, including all stages of an offering from the initial engagement of lead underwriters, development of marketing materials, through to pricing and allocation of an offering
• Shareholder relations and considering how to address more active shareholder situations
• Assessment of cost of capital

Credit Advisory

• First-time negotiation and renegotiation of credit facilities with bank and non-bank lenders
• Access to and relationships with a broad range of senior, subordinate and mezzanine lenders in Canada and the United States
• Frontline or behind the scenes: support in negotiation of pricing and all other financial and non-financial terms

Corporate Development

• Project-based solutions for infrequent, complex corporate finance issues
• Detailed financial modeling
• Analysis and sourcing project finance
• Evaluating and structuring joint ventures
• Exit planning