Insights of a Maverick Investment Banker_Sample

Preface
This book represents a collection of articles I wrote for the
Firm Value newsletter between 2007 and 2012, some of which
have never been published in English before. My goal was to
share with you my experiences in raising capital and selling
companies in the challenging investment markets of Central
Eastern Europe. I hope you will find my writings interesting and
instructive.
Building a profitable business, positioning it as a marketable
product, financing its growth and eventually monetizing it is
always challenging and usually a long and arduous process. Most
often, small to medium sized businesses are sold when the
founders have reached a plateau from which they have no
appetite to make another run, for lifestyle or risk management
reasons.
Why take on the burden of recruiting a management team or
scale to the next level when you can walk away with a multiple of
profits and enjoy other activities, perhaps including launching
another business? For entrepreneurs, creating something new is
more exciting than tweaking and optimising an existing
business. Let strategic or private equity investors define a new
vision, hire professional managers, pile cash into new
equipment and ascend the next mountain.
Wishing you a good read and rising equity value.
Istvan ‘Steve’ Preda
Glen Allen, Virginia, August 2013
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