Our Services

Services for Companies, Owners, and Boards

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Companies, Owners and Boards want to keep control of their business, persuade their lender to work with the company during what they hope is a short-term financial performance problem and can increase value. MorrisAnderson has a proven track record of successfully implementing solutions to accomplish these goals for our clients.

We work on-site to collaborate in a hands-on style with the company’s management. Although we almost certainly have some experience in your company’s industry with over 2,000 engagements under our belt, management is always more knowledgeable about the industry than us. What we bring is practical experience in the business emergency room (ER) that when combined with management’s industry expertise is quite powerful.

Although we are often referred to our clients by a lender, we work for you as our client. We are the company’s strongest advocate when speaking with your lender and other creditors. We base our advocacy on facts and not emotion. We work together with owners and management to plot out a realistic and timely path back to reasonable financial performance and help you execute on that plan. We strive to maintain an open dialogue with your lender who must “trust us”. We must have high credibility as this is essential to negotiating lender cooperation. In a way we view ourselves a bit like a sports referee – making calls on plays and situations as we see them and asking both sides (the company and the lender), to accept the call and play on.

Additionally, we have strong experience in the capital markets, and can help you find new capital if it’s available, whether it’s a refinancing, growth equity raise, or another situation. In the case of refinancing, your strong preference should be to stay with lender you have unless you are being forced to refinance.
Change is painful and you will find that the MorrisAnderson team will challenge you and your colleagues to do tasks and make decisions that will be uncomfortable and may be viewed as risky. The silver lining of a financial crisis is its ability to motivate you to make significant change as the risk of doing nothing is far greater than that of taking action.

Services for Lenders

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Accurate, information is the biggest thing a lender or a bank group often lack in loan workout scenarios. Owners and managers sometimes either wear rose-colored glasses or are so emotionally invested in the situation that they can’t objectively see the total picture of what’s really going on. This is where MorrisAnderson can add value by providing an objective, third party analysis and deep diving into the company’s financials. Thus, you can properly evaluate the loan risk and make appropriate decisions based on the true facts of the situation. Once engaged, MorrisAnderson works on-site at the company to truly see and feel what’s going on and form a relationship with management. We want to be a conduit to the lender for honest and accurate information.

We organize and present information in easy-to-read formats. We build projection models backed upon thoroughly vetted data supplied by the borrower. We find that the best way to get a bank group on the same page is to make sure they all have the same information and a realistic interpretation of the key take-away points. Additionally, we help the Agent build consensus across the bank group. We view the counsel to the Bank Group as our partner and work in tandem with counsel on interrelated financial and legal issues.

The goal of our engagement is help avoid a Bank Group loss or at minimum, stop a loss from getting worse. Therefore, we proactively provide our experienced opinions on the options available to the Bank Group. We take positions, give advice, and look for ways for the Bank Group to improve its position relative to collateral coverage, owner capital risk participation and other areas.

Services for Attorneys

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When an attorney recommends MorrisAnderson, they want that client to later thank the attorney for that referral down the road. Attorneys expect referred professionals to produce a high-quality work product, develop positive interpersonal relationships and to keep them informed. Attorneys want referred professionals to have their back, so they are not embarrassed or surprised.

MorrisAnderson prides itself on being referred often by attorneys to assist their clients needing financial advice, access to capital, ad-hoc project management assistance, interim management, or litigation support.

Our referral network from law firms includes the following law firm practice groups:

• Bankruptcy and Insolvency
• Corporate Governance
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Litigation

We view working with a client’s counsel as a partnership where both the law firm and MorrisAnderson work as a hands-on and collaborative team driving to achieve a favorable result for our client. On virtually every project we take on, client counsel is involved or will become involved at some point. In cases where clients are not represented by counsel, MorrisAnderson recommends strong law firms and assists clients in their retention.

Services for Creditor Committees

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In Chapter 11 cases, an Unsecured Creditor Committee is typically formed, and the Committee selects legal counsel as well as a Financial Advisor to represent its interests. In cases where MorrisAnderson has strong industry experience or where we’ve done work for a creditor on the Committee or the attorney representing the Committee, MorrisAnderson is always willing to assist as Financial Advisor (FA).

Our approach to this type of work is different from many firms that focus solely on Financial Advisory for Creditor Committees. First, we approach these cases asking ourselves “what would we do if we were managing the Debtor to maximize value for all stakeholders.” If the Debtor is pursing strategies that we believe are simply not optimal and equitable, we will work to even the playing field. Chapter 11 is a venue where finding leverage points and judicially exercising this leverage can significantly improve outcomes for Unsecured Creditors. This is what we strive to do.

Second, we differentiate ourselves by our approach to project staffing. We like to run these engagements very lean. Typically, we staff Committee FA work with two, or at most three qualified consultants, one of which is an experienced senior consultant. This approach to staffing reduces costs.

Our third and final point of differentiation is focus on practicality and common sense. Unfortunately, Chapter 11 has become a game of rewarding professionals financially for creating conflicts and having disputes which results in more professional billable hours and more fees. We believe the best Chapter 11 professionals are skilled at making deals and avoiding protracted battles unless absolutely necessary. We strive to be deal makers and action-oriented professionals constantly pushing the case towards completion.

When MorrisAnderson is chosen for a Creditor Committee Financial Advisory role, we want to do two tasks immediately. First, because Chapter 11 is a data heavy process, we immediately work with the Debtor and its professionals to establish a free flow of financial information from the company to the Committee. Second, we work to establish a positive relationship with the Debtor’s senior management and its professionals to increase the likelihood the case goes smoothly and produces a better outcome.

The typical tasks we are asked to do as a Financial Advisor include:

• Reviewing the Debtor in Possession (DIP) Budget
• Reviewing Historical and Prospective Financial Performance
• Providing Valuation Estimates
• Evaluating Profit Improvement Opportunities
• Evaluating Bonus and Incentive Programs
• Estimating Claim Pools
• Evaluating Plan of Reorganization Feasibility

C – COMMUNICATIONS CONSISTENCY

We believe it is important to develop an objective view of a company and to share that view with both the company and its lender(s), so that all parties are working from the same set of facts. We believe in developing financial projections that realistically but conservatively predict future financial results and layer in the effect of planned corrective actions and financial improvements on those projected results. We believe in frequent and regular communications with both the company and the lender(s) to lay the foundation for a win-win approach and solution.

O – OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

MorrisAnderson’s senior consulting team have held C-level positions in industry as well as held interim management positions for numerous clients. Most of us have a earned a CTP (Certified Turnaround Professional) certificate. We believe that operational excellence can only be achieved by managers who have significant “been there, done that” experience and our team has developed that operational excellence over many decades of work.

A – ACTION-ORIENTED

Although business analysis, planning and report writing are important consulting skills, the rubber really meets the road when you are taking action to implement a business plan or a Turnaround Plan. We believe that what makes for a successful consultant is the ability to successfully implement action plans on time and as budgeted. This is an area where we excel.

T – TRUSTED ADVISOR

Trust is a hard thing to earn with stakeholders, especially in an emotionally charged, distressed business situation where the stakes are high for everyone involved. We work to develop one-on-one relationships with all key stakeholders when we work on your project. We believe that you need to invest time with people to understand what is most important to each key stakeholders and do our best to continually be mindful of that need. We have found that listening, absolute honesty, and empathy are mandatory skills to make this happen.

S – SOLUTIONS FOCUSED

Finally, we believe that all activity must be directed toward an overarching goal. This goal is a solution that all key stakeholders agree to be the best course of action and will most likely lead to a significantly better outcome. We work hard to not only develop that overarching goal but also to develop a plan and execute on it, eventually driving the company toward that mutually agreed upon solution.

COATS is what makes MorrisAnderson a different type of consulting firm.