Sidetrade and Hyman Capital partnership

Covid-19 has generated exceptional cash tensions, with agreements made every day to defer certain payments by one or two months, or sometimes longer. Faced with the challenge of late payment, private equity funds have found it hard to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on their portfolio companies, with zero cashflow visibility due to the limited information available to them.

The economic damage is palpable, and Hyman Capital, a London-based boutique merchant bank, recognises the importance of moving quickly to avert cashflow problems in businesses where ‘Cash is King’. Hyman Capital providing transaction support and advisory services for businesses, has partnered with AI firm Sidetrade to support the cashflow challenges of its business clients and private equity contacts. Clive Hyman, founder and CEO of Hyman Capital, said: “More than ever, a strong cash management and a solid cash position are the top priority for businesses. In this context, Sidetrade is the ideal partner due to their leading AI technology and 20 years’ business experience of unlocking cash from working capital.”

Sidetrade AI technology provides a dashboard of balance-sheet and cash-flow diagnostics that can be shared virtually over any confidential platform to help maintain oversight and focus on the most important levers. Mr Hyman continued: “Having a cash culture is important for any company a private equity investor has invested in, especially now. With Sidetrade, we’re enabling AI technology to assist private equityinvestors who want to optimise cash flow from their investee companies and secure a competitive edge for their portfolio.”

Sunil Pandit, partner and alliance lead at Sidetrade said: “Private equity funds want more visibility around working capital and how its financed. They need rapid assessment of risk and identification of cash levers.

We are supporting these challenges by offering agility in their management of working capital in their portfolio companies. Unlocking cash is the cheapest source of finance to reduce borrowings. After taking initial actions to recover and stabilise their cashflow position, portfolio companies
can focus on growth!”