Financière Guizot #2

Presentation of the company

Founded in 2005, Financière Guizot is an independent wealth management firm. The company, managed by Aymeric Binet, employs 2 people and is based in Paris.

The firm specialises in advising private clients on all aspects of their assets (taxation, investments, loans, etc.). It receives fees and commissions when products are marketed, but also on the basis of the outstanding amounts held by clients (particularly in life insurance). The activity is therefore by definition highly recurrent thanks to the commissions received throughout the commercial relationship.

In 13 years of existence, Financière Guizot has advised more than 800 families and works with partners such as Aviva, Generali, Swisslife, etc…

Financière Guizot’s strategy consists in increasing its outstandings (historical portfolio + acquisition) in order to mechanically increase the commissions received, then to develop the acquired portfolio in order to capture new capital on new products (notably units of account, a riskier but also more remunerative medium).

Two client portfolios have been identified, OpenCaps and Ari Conseil, which respectively generate €200,000 and €120,000 in annual recurring commissions.

Project Description

As part of its strategy, Financière Guizot will therefore acquire two client portfolios in the coming months.

For the first operation, Mr Huss wants to retire and sell his company OpenCaps valued at 495 000 € according to the usual multiples of the profession.

The buyer, via its Financière Guizot company, wishes to borrow €462,000 over 60 months with a grace period of 4 months, to finance the acquisition of the company. The balance being financed by a personal contribution.

The second operation could be financed by Lendix soon. Our analysis takes this project into account.

As a reminder, the Lendix community of lenders financed the company in 2015 up to 350 000 € for the acquisition of two client portfolios.

This is a flexible bridge loan, offering the borrower the possibility to prepay without fees beyond the first 9 months.

*This project is a medium-term loan with a capital amortisation deferment proposed on the Lendix platform and as such presents a method of capital repayment different from standard projects. The first 4 months, the lenders will receive interest and the following 56 months, the lenders will receive interest and principal amortization. This principal repayment profile matches the borrower’s financing needs while allowing lenders to earn a higher amount of interest.

Like all projects presented to private lenders on Lendix, it is co-financed with institutional investors, sophisticated investors and the management of Lendix, subscribers to the Lendix Fund.

Analyst’s Opinion

With a turnover of € 778 901 in 2017 and an experienced team, the company has a good performance record in terms of activity combined with double-digit operating profitability.

Since 2016, the increase in sales and profitability is linked to the acquisition of new client portfolios, combined with a decrease in the executive’s compensation over the last year.

The forecast was developed on the basis of 2017 performance by integrating the new client portfolios currently being acquired.

The borrower has a good repayment capacity with a Fixed Charge Cover Ratio* (FCCR) forecast at 1.15 and a strong financial structure with a projected net debt/EBITDA ratio of 1.1 and net debt/equity ratio of 109.0% taking into account the current account contribution of shareholders

The analysis of the project and the borrower leads to a C rating with a strong financial solidity and a rate of 7.50% per year.

Highlights :

• Good performance history on a diversified client base
• Strong turnover recurrence and experienced buyer
• Good repayment capacity with a projected CCRF of 1.15

Vigilance Point:

• Individual activity

*The multiple of CRFC at 1,15 means that the company has a safety margin of 15% relative to its ability to repay its credit maturities.

The expert opinion is given as an indication on the basis of the elements provided by the project holder and information from our databases (Scores & Decisions, Corporate Banking File). This opinion is only an element of reflection in the decision making of a lender to participate in the financing of a project.