Blue Sky Corporate Finance Ltd

Blue Sky Corporate Finance is an independent corporate finance consultancy practice headquartered in the West Midlands specialising in helping the owners/managers of small to medium sized enterprises to become investment ready, raise finance, to sell a business, to undertake management buy-outs/buy-ins and to make corporate acquisitions.

Established in 1999 Blue Sky has grown to become one of the best known corporate finance boutiques specialising in the SME sector of the market. A close knit team of 8 professionals work with their clients to prepare the business case; determine the most appropriate type/mix of finance and then work with the owner/management team to seek to procure the appropriate type of finance to meet their needs on the best available terms.

The front office investment appraisal team of Blue Sky is made up of 4 experienced chartered accountants with collectively more than 50 years corporate finance experience gained working with some of the largest and smallest companies throughout the UK.

Paul Heaven, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Corporate Finance Faculty, has more than 25 years general management experience in various FD and MD roles. Having served his articles at Clement Keys & Co and his corporate finance apprenticeship at Ernst & Young; Paul formed Blue Sky Corporate Finance to serve the needs of the small to medium sized enterprise sector. Paul is also a regular speaker at Corporate Finance events, a member of the West Midlands Regional Finance Forum where he serves as a representative of the 4 Business Angel Networks that operate in the region and an expert on the funding sources available from equity, debt, grants and trade/asset finance.

Tony Seaton joined Blue Sky Corporate Finance from BDO in 2009. With more than 15 years corporate finance experience, Tony is a key member of the team. Tony is a chartered accountant living in the Black Country and likes nothing better than a pint of Batham’s bitter. He is well known throughout the finance community in the Birmingham, Black Country and Worcestershire regions. Tony has extensive experience of working with all of the regions banks and venture capitalists and Business Link in raising finance, acquisitions and disposals within the SME market

Deborah Spence joined Blue Sky Corporate Finance from Ernst & Young in 2005 having previously served her articles with Grant Thornton and with Deborah’s extensive (15 year) knowledge of the corporate finance industry, established herself very quickly as an integral part of the team.

Mark Gibson has been with the Blue Sky Corporate Finance team since 2007 and is responsible for compliance procedures, market and company research and all aspects of regulatory FSA, ICAEW, Statutory, HMRC and audit compliance.

Blue Sky works with a great many SME owner managers and completes between 20 and 30 fund-raising deals ranging from £50k to £2m each year the vast majority of which include some proportion of debt finance. As part of the process of placing these deals Blue Sky works with all of the key sources of debt finance from all of the high street banks through to asset financiers, trade financiers to business angels.

The reputation of Blue Sky and its long service in this market depends upon its relationship and good standing with the providers of finance and that relationship depends upon the quality of the deals that are placed. The deal quality is tested by the extensive and detailed due diligence process undertaken by the experienced and professional front office team. The financial projections that are not actually constructed by the Blue Sky team (and many are) are subject to detailed scrutiny and sensitivity testing. The trading history and credit standing of both the client company and its owner managers are checked out via 3rd party research tools. Business plan key assumptions are thoroughly tested and where possible verified and key risks and threats are appropriately disclosed. Owner manager and company trade references are obtained and made available to investors where requested.

Blue Sky is a corporate sponsor of the investment showcase network Connect Midlands and more recently they are one of only 10 private sector experts to be invited to advise HM Treasury on the subject of Access to Finance for SME’s.

Go to the Blue Sky website.