OUR SERVICES

Merchant banking is an ancient idea that still works…(it’s) the old-fashioned banker who takes the time to listen to his customer’s needs and helps solve their problems”. The great merchant bankers advised kings and railroad barons, bankrolled the Dutch East India Company and the California gold rush and underwrote the bonds for North Sea oil drilling. [1]

Imagine Partners is building on this rich history of customer-focused Advisory. With a focus on early-stage to lower-middle-market companies. Our specialties include:

PRIVATE PLACEMENTS / CAPITAL RAISING

Imagine Partners structures transactions across the capital spectrum to minimize dilution and optimize capital structure. Often these solutions involve a hybrid of debt and equity. Our team brings significant experience raising private capital and has developed a unique distribution platform consisting primarily of family offices, high net worth individuals and targeted institutional investors. The benefit of our partners is their patient approach that allows for longer-term value creation.

Imagine Partners orchestrates top-notch placement processes that match targeted investors with specific opportunity characteristics. Organizing meetings effectively maximize Management’s time increases the momentum of the transaction and thereby, its competitiveness.

ADVISORY SERVICES

We work closely with business owners and their teams to achieve growth and improve performance. Our work often includes:

  • Growth strategy: Increasing market share, extending product and service lines, and entering and building new markets.
  • Operational improvement: Driving efficiency and profitability through all parts of the business.
  • Financial management and planning: Optimizing cash flow, capital structure, and investing in growth.
  • Organizational effectiveness: Defining key roles, organizational structure and decision-making, work processes, and cultivating leadership and culture.
  • Capital investment and management: Planning for and executing major investments, including acquisitions, real estate, and facilities.
  • Succession planning: Preparing the financial and management plan to transition leadership and ownership, as well as capturing and distributing the value in the business.
  • Government Contracting: We help secure federal government contracts with all federal agencies like the Department of Energy or Department of Defense to provide access and project management services in construction, architecture, real estate development and sustainability and energy management consulting.
  • Government Consulting: Developing strategies, public affairs and understanding and determining their business, political, legal, regulatory, and media environments by working with government officials in Washington, D.C. from the White House and Executive Branch departments, the Congress, the executive management of Fortune 500 corporations, foreign ambassadors and their staffs, professional and trade associations, and private equity firms.
  • Political Consulting: Assisting corporate, non-profit and individual political campaigns with all of their activities like, campaign management, fundraising, media strategy, opposition research, voter polling, field strategy and get out the vote efforts.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

A merger or acquisition can add considerable value to a business, but making sure that each stage of the transaction process—from valuation to negotiation and completion—is successful demands considerable experience and knowledge.,

  • Our services are designed to help our clients reach their strategic goals by identifying and then implementing opportunities to merge with or acquire other businesses;
  • The global economy means that these opportunities can arise anywhere in the world. Our global reach means that we can provide services on the ground wherever they are needed.

INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION/DEVELOPMENT

The global reach—focused on Europe and China—and deep professional network of the Imagine Partners team allows us to open international expansion and strategic partnership opportunities. Previous engagements include:

  • Assembling Management teams in geographies unfamiliar to Management;
  • Identifying partners in foreign countries to allow for strategic international expansion.
  • Introductions to potential strategic partners to open new market opportunities.

PROPRIETARY INVESTMENT

At Imagine Partners, we offer patient, minority equity capital to some Advisory clients, typically to fund continued organic growth opportunities; and less often, to fund growth through acquisition. Our continued Advisory and/or Board-level participation is requisite for proprietary investment.

We believe that people drive investment performance and success. In evaluating opportunities, we seek to partner with management teams whom we like, trust and admire and whose interests align with our own. We establish relationships with quality, motivated management teams and believe that aligned incentives through investment helps to achieve superior outcomes.

(1) “The Merchant Bank: An Ancient Idea That Still Works”, New York Times Dealbook, December 24, 2009.