Steps to Growth Capital New Tech Case Story

New Tech Case Story — Step 8

The Challenge: Choosing an Offer

The Offers

Term sheets from New Tech's two potential investors, Walter Buffet and Chinook Ventures, arrive by fax the same day. Both investors had met with the New Tech management team several times, toured the plant, and done some high level due diligence. Now they both submit term sheets outlining the deals they'd like to make.

Elizabeth Pratt (New Tech's in-house accountant) makes copies for all the team members. She faxes one to Grant Argent (New Tech's financial advisor) in Toronto and another to Tony Lee of Smith & Smith, New Tech's lawyers. She arranges a conference call among the management team, Grant and Tony. The New Tech team wants Grant and Tony in on the discussions in order to benefit from their expertise and make the process more objective. They will also be involved in the negotiations.

Choosing One

Both offers are to invest the $600,000 that New Tech requested. But Buffet's deal is clearly superior. First, Buffet is asking for 44% and Chinook wants 49% of the company for the same investment. Second, Chinook has proposed more stringent terms and conditions. Most important, the team members believe that Buffet will be more involved and could be of greater assistance to New Tech as a business advisor. They decide to focus on Buffet's term sheet.

Key Tasks

Grant warns team members that they aren't going to get everything they ask for. They should focus on being flexible and not view the negotiation as a "win-lose" but as a "win-win" process. They've got to work on the following:

• Determine their bottom-line terms and conditions, acceptable compromises and opening positions.
  
• Consult with their financial advisor and lawyer throughout the process.
  
• Think of the investor's point of view when determining their terms and negotiating strategy.
  
• Stay open-minded and flexible on all issues.
  
• Look for common ground with the investor.

Read about how New Tech negotiated terms with Buffet.

Read about how they struck their deal.

See the final Term Sheet drawn up to summarize the results of the negotiations.

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