Helping companies raise finance

Northbank Communications has extensive experience in private equity communications consultancy. We recently helped two clients raise €47 million, by focusing on their business plan, corporate presentation and media presence.

Private equity communications consultancy is one of the core services of Northbank Communications and recently we helped two of our German clients raise a total of €47 million. We are obviously delighted with their success and wanted to tell you a little bit about how Northbank helps companies embarking on fundraising rounds.

Affimed Therapeutics, a private biopharmaceutical company specialising in the development of recombinant antibodies, and mtm laboratories, a certified developer and manufacturer of in-vitro diagnostics for the screening and diagnosis of cervical cancer, are clients handled by Northbank?s Munich office. Both companies requested our support prior to embarking on new financing rounds. In both cases we took a three-pronged approach, which we have repeatedly found to be effective, covering the business plan, the presentation and media relations.

Business plan: strategic edit

Studies show that only 15% of business plans sent to investors actually ever get read, so it is important that that yours really stands out and attracts the attention of the investor. At the very least it is always a good idea to get an objective outside eye to look over your business plan before submitting it to investors. Northbank's consultants have years of experience in reviewing and editing business plans. As plans are commonly written by several different hands, external input to the text is often necessary to iron out inconsistencies as well as to present the investment case. This is all the more true when the business plan is in English, which may not be the first language of the authors.

Many companies, when putting together plans, fall into the trap of just blandly listing everything the company does when, in reality, the business plan is its key selling document. It is crucial therefore that its business stands out and makes the investor take note. When Northbank edits business plans it is always with an eye to produce such a strong selling document, structured in a way that will make it accessible and attractive to the investor.

Finally, presentation can help catch the eye and guide the investor through the plan. Northbank's studio has helped many companies with cover design and content formatting, as well as creating clear diagrams.

Investor presentation

Only 5% of companies seeking contact with an investor actually get to present to them. Sadly, many companies fail at this stage because their investor presentation is badly designed, badly structured, overlong or boring. This is fortunately something that can be addressed and Northbank has considerable experience in making the most out of investor presentations. These slides, presented by Northbank recently to an audience of Bavarian biotech companies organized by BIO-M in Munich, give some handy hints on how to get your investor presentation just right.

Building a media presence

Bill Gates said "If I was down to my last dollar, I'd spend it on PR". In the case of fundraising rounds, media coverage provides that third-party validation that is invaluable in convincing new investor contacts. Media scanning and simple Google searches are often the first stages of research an investor makes before meeting with a company. Favourable comment in BioCentury, Scrip or even the FT can really stand out and show that the company has a presence and professionalism that many private companies lack. Of course, press releases are the mainstay of most communications plans but even in the absence of hard news it is still possible to work with certain publications to place profiles or technology features. Reprints of these articles can then be used as handouts with investors.

Outcome

In order to raise significant amounts of money in the current climate life science companies really do have to punch above their weight. Even the very best of companies, if poorly presented and with no outside validation, can fail to raise money. Northbank worked with Affimed and mtm to improve the way they presented themselves through their business plan and investor presentation, and also to raise awareness of the companies through media relations. The outcome of their fundraising efforts was that mtm laboratories raised €22 million in October 2006 and Affimed Therapeutics raised €25 million in April 2007.

If you would be interested in hearing more about Northbank's private equity communications consultancy, click here or drop us a line at s.charles[at]northbankcommunications.com or, if in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, d.pretsell[at]northbankcommunications.com

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