| Home | About Us | Contact Us | Terms | Privacy Policy | Sitemap | |
 |
 |
|
||||
|
© Business Money Ltd 2006 |
|
|
|
TFG Dinner 2005London, 20 October 2005 The Turnaround Finance Dinner is always an enjoyable affair. Not just because it is an excellent networking opportunity but also because turnaround, or restructuring, is a sphere that I find truly fascinating. The ability to inject new life, or identify opportunity, where the current management is failing to maximize potential, is a true art form and I never tire of hearing about situations that have been recovered from the brink or catapulted into the stratosphere with the help of a turnaround professional. My knowledge of this mastery is not sufficient to do it justice and so my readers will forgive me if I limit my ramblings to the occasion itself, and the activities of Jon Borrill and The Mama Amelia Appeal, rather than attempt to detail the admirable activities of the evening’s award winners. There were actually only two awards presented this year – “Best Debt Provider” and “Best Equity Provider”. The award for “Best European Finance Provider”, won last year by Bank of America, which has picked up an award every year for the previous six years, was not presented. The judges were of the opinion that to qualify for an award, a company needs to have demonstrated a sufficient degree of achievement to make it stand out from its peers and, on this occasion, whilst some very impressive submissions were put forward, no single provider stood out. The reduced number of awards also contributed to the brevity of the formalities and meant that the room was soon listening to ex-FA chief executive, Mark Palios. Mark is a well-known personality in the world of turnaround finance for all the right reasons. After his footballing career came to an end, he moved into accountancy and was a business recovery partner at PwC and Arthur Young for 17 years. A licensed insolvency practitioner and chartered accountant, Mark has been at the helm of a number of impressive rescues and is the holder of a “Lifetime Achievement Award” that was presented to him at a previous TFG dinner. As chief executive, Mark led the turnaround of the FA, overhauling the disciplinary procedures and undertaking an organisational and financial restructuring to rescue the association from what looked like financial crisis. This meant that the FA avoided having to borrow a scheduled $230m that would have put it into further financial jeopardy. Through his efforts, confidence in the FA was restored and led to it being able to secure a $1.4bn syndicated finance deal for the new stadium that has been built at Wembley. Whilst lifetime achievement awards can often be an industry’s way of saying “hang up your boots”, Mark’s work continues as senior managing director of FTI Palladium Partners and we will, no doubt, be hearing more of his activities in the future. He gave an excellent delivery that was well received by the crowd and warmed everyone up nicely for the rest of the evening. At last year’s dinner Jon Borrill introduced us all to the work of Mama Amelia. Amelia is a wonderful lady who works selflessly to watch over, feed, clothe, wash and care for 95 children. Yes, you read that correctly: 95 children – those of you with one or two take note. And without her efforts these children would be, quite literally, on the streets. The generosity of certain members of the turnaround finance community has meant that in this past year her life has been made a little easier (financially at least) and with continued support she can carry on making a real difference to the lives of so many. The sums that we are talking about to support 95 children for a year are not, by any means, astronomical. We are talking about a UK fundraising effort of around £12,000 year-on-year, coming principally, but not exclusively, from the turnaround and turnaround finance community. This works out at around £126 per child, or just over a tenner a month. So, fairly insignificant for the warmth, care, food and shelter of a homeless child. And with this in mind, Jon has set up a trust committee of himself, Andrew Gregory and Doug MacDonald to manage any funds that are raised. What the trust needs now are those funds. And your contribution is important; it will make a difference. By giving the fundraising activity some publicity in the magazine and featuring the dinner write up on the Business Money website, Jon’s efforts came to the attention of a gentleman called Alan Bennett in South Africa. A working relationship has now been formed with a Cape Town-based committee headed up by Alan which is a registered charity under SA legislation and ensures that funds are correctly applied. There are no middle men taking administrative fees out of the aid that is being applied here, just kind hearted, devoted people trying to make a difference to a large number of children. Why not be one of them? Ben Lefroy
Pledges for Mama
Amelia can be made to Jon Borrill at the MacDonald Partnership,
|
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
