Monroe Moxness Berg is pleased to announce that Brian Tunis has joined the firm as an associate in the firm’s Business Law and Corporate Finance/M&A practice groups. Brian has substantial experience in a wide array of transactional work. Brian advises business owners on matters related to the establishment, reorganization, structure, operation, and tax reporting requirements […]
When you review the Top 200 list [Restaurant Finance Monitor‘s annual list of 200 top franchisees], you realize the big influence franchisees have on their franchise systems. Nonetheless, there’s always some tension between franchisor and franchisee. This often appears in two areas: development rights and required capex for remodels, upgrades or new equipment. Development Rights: […]
Recently I spoke at a conference to lawyers on the current status of community banking, and it got me thinking about how much things have changed on that front for the restaurant industry. The federal regulations primarily directed at larger banks have trickled down to affect small community banks. As a consequence, these banks have […]
The public finance markets are again open to emerging restaurant concepts. This is due to the supply of capital, the desire of investors to invest in high growth and the liberalization of securities. The Monitor has highlighted some recent IPOs which illustrate the growth in the public markets. This article will discuss public offerings, small […]
The number of outside investors teaming up with good operators to buy into franchise systems is proliferating of late. In particular, private equity has served as the funding for consolidation of franchisee units and the acquisition of franchisors. But not all professional investors are created equal. Operators who want to bring in a financial partner […]
As a business owner, you either have existing debt financing, are currently working on debt financing and/or at some point in the future will be seeking debt financing. It is simply the nature of the business, whether you are refinancing an existing loan, funding capital improvements to your business, seeking to fund an acquisition or […]
There has been no small amount of discussion, and hand wringing, related to the current conditions in the credit markets. Not as much has been said about equity markets in our industry. There is certainly a trickle-down effect in the equity markets, given that lower loan-to-value underwriting standards lead to higher equity requirements. I recently […]
Last month’s column dealt with getting ready for a downturn. Much of the column discussed appropriate steps to take to minimize issues if, for some reason, the franchise business has to go through a restructure. Some of the key discussion points from last month’s column dealt with unproductive assets, getting a corporate structure in place […]
