Access to Finance

For a business to be healthy it must be supported by a decent to strong level of financial support.  The first line of support is that of the shareholders of the company, who invest their equity share capital into the business, and target the highest possible return on their capital employed.  This level of equity will then determine their gearing level and the business’ risk factor.  Investors through their directors, have the opportunity to take out loans on their company in order to finance fresh investment into new projects or plans for expansion. This is where good financial and management accountants, like ourselves, help to provide the directors with business plans and projections, which will help reassure managers as well as lenders of the soundness of the projects or business ventures.

Loans as well as overdraft facilities are generally granted by major local banks here in Malta such as Bank of Valletta, HSBC, APS, BNF, Fimbank, Lombard and others.  We have close contacts with each of these banks, and are able to seek finance and arrange for a range of banking facilities.  Business loans tend to span over 5 to 7 years unless the project is heavy in terms of construction projects, which could see longer term business loans of say up to 15 years.

Listings on the Malta Stock Exchange

Apart from banks for commercial lending, the local market has also opened up along the years and the MFSA and the Malta Stock Exchange now regulate both a primary and secondary market for bonds, equity and other instruments.  Bonds are a defined loan over a period of time without ongoing repayments, but which are usually repayable after a fixed period of time in their entirety.  They are transferable from one bond holder to the other and are resold on the Malta Stock Exchange.  Equity issues also give the opportunity for local companies to issue Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) which enable shareholders of solid companies to sell their interest in the company to various other shareholders at a premium after having built up their business value and goodwill.

Our team has guided and driven some of our clients towards bond issues in the past and who have since had more success stories.  We have built a team of professionals, who know exactly what needs to be done, and what the legal requirements and obligations of Public Limited Companies are and we aim to make the whole process simpler, whilst ensuring that we organise and prepare our clients for this big and prestigious step towards growth and expansion.

Personal & Corporate Banking

Apart from lending we also have several clients who seek to open bank accounts for their companies or in their personal capacity with local and international banks and this is when we take care of the whole application process for them.