Our Services

Mergers & Acquisitions

Sell-side Advisory

We expertly guide founders and CEOs through the process of selling their business, ensuring they achieve maximum value, strategic alignment, and optimal deal terms.

Buy-side Advisory

Whether you're an independent sponsor or an industry consolidator, our targeted acquisition strategies identify and secure ideal business targets that align perfectly with your growth objectives.

Corporate Finance

Traditional Bank Financing

We leverage our extensive network of financial institutions to secure competitive bank financing solutions tailored to your unique business needs.

Alternative Debt Financing

Our innovative debt financing solutions offer flexible terms to help businesses navigate situations where traditional financing may fall short.

Recapitalization

Optimize your company's capital structure through strategic recapitalization, ensuring liquidity, stability, and sustained growth.

Private Equity

Connect with leading private equity investors to secure capital, accelerate growth, or facilitate strategic transitions with minimal disruption.

Growth Capital Solution

Secure the necessary funds to fuel your business expansion initiatives, including new market entry, product launches, or scaling operations.

Asset-Based Lending

Tailored asset-based lending solutions designed to maximize your funding availability, prioritizing collateral over traditional credit evaluations.

Financial Restructuring

Navigate complex financial challenges effectively, transforming distress into strategic opportunities through targeted restructuring plans.

Equity and Bridge Investments

Access strategically structured equity and bridge financing solutions to address immediate funding needs or to facilitate long-term strategic projects.

IPO Advisory

Readiness Assessment & Strategic Planning

We evaluate corporate structure, governance, and financial reporting readiness, helping clients choose the right exchange and listing approach while aligning strategy and valuation with market expectations.

Capital Structure & Valuation Advisory

We design balanced capital structures, perform pre-IPO valuations, and advise on pricing, share allocation, and restructuring to attract investors and support growth.

Shell Identification and Sales

We identify and facilitate clean shell company acquisitions or sales for RTOs, ensuring full due diligence, regulatory compliance, and efficient market entry.

Underwriting and Investor Roadshows

We coordinate underwriters and investor outreach, prepare offering materials, and manage both domestic and international roadshows.

Regulatory and Compliance Coordination

We work with legal and audit teams to prepare filings and disclosures, ensuring full compliance with securities regulations in Canada, the U.S., and beyond.

Post-Listing Support & Investor Relations

We offer post-IPO guidance, liquidity and market stabilization strategies, and investor communication support to sustain confidence and visibility.

Our proprietary due diligence process evaluates over 300 business and financial factors to identify value drivers and mitigate risks. Leveraging our FinTech-enabled investor platform and global network, Trusted Financial helps private companies enter public markets efficiently, compliantly, and strategically.
A man in a suit sits at a desk with a laptop, an open notebook, and a pen holder, appearing to think while reviewing mergers and acquisitions advisory documents on the screen.

Why Trusted Financial?

  • Strategic Insight: Deep market expertise ensures tailored and impactful financial solutions.
  • Execution Excellence: Consistent delivery of superior outcomes through meticulous attention to detail.
  • Client-Centric Approach: Strong partnerships built on transparency, trust, and alignment with client objectives.

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs clients ask when raising capital — answers from an investment banker

Strategy & Fit

It depends on your objectives, cash flow profile, growth stage and tolerance for dilution. Debt preserves ownership but requires predictable cashflow and often comes with covenants and security. Equity dilutes ownership but provides growth capital without fixed repayments and typically brings investor expertise and networks. Hybrids (convertible notes, preferred equity, mezzanine) can balance dilution and near-term cash obligations. We’ll model scenarios (cost of capital, dilution, covenant stress tests) to recommend the optimal mix.
Raise to achieve clearly defined milestones: runway to the next valuation inflection, working capital needs, and a contingency buffer (usually 12–18 months of runway after expected amortization). We build 18–36 month financial forecasts and waterfall analyses to justify the amount and show investor returns under base, downside, and upside scenarios.
Match investor type to your needs: strategic corporates for distribution/technical synergies, growth equity for scaling, venture capital for rapid expansion, family offices for flexible timelines, and credit funds/banks for leverage. Fit also means cultural alignment: governance appetite, exit expectations, and involvement level. We’ll target a tailored list and prioritize based on strategic value and probability of close.

Deal Mechanics

Valuation depends on market comparables, revenue trajectory, margins, growth rates, and perceived risk. For early-stage companies, multiples derive from comparable financings; for later-stage, from public comps and precedent M&A. We’ll produce a valuation range—supported by sensitivity tables—so you know realistic expectations heading into negotiations.

Common structures include common or preferred equity (with liquidation preferences), convertible notes or SAFEs (early-stage), venture rounds with protective provisions, senior or unitranche debt with security, and mezzanine with warrants. Each structure affects control, returns, and covenants; we’ll recommend and negotiate the structure that balances your goals and investor requirements.

Expect negotiations over valuation, liquidation preference (1x, participating vs. non-participating), anti-dilution protection, board composition, information rights, protective covenants, drag/tag rights, and sometimes ratchets. For debt: interest rate margin, maturity, amortization, covenants, security package and events of default. We’ll prioritize which terms to concede and which to defend.

Process & Timing

Timelines vary: seed/pre-seed rounds can close in 4–8 weeks; Series A/B rounds 8–12+ weeks; larger institutional raises or syndication can take 3–6 months or longer. Debt raises are often faster if documentation is standard. Timelines expand with complexity: international investors, regulatory approvals, or extensive due diligence.
We advise on strategy and structure, prepare marketing materials (teaser, CIM), build financial models, create the target investor list, manage outreach and investor Q&A, coordinate due diligence, run the auction/negotiation, and shepherd documentation to close. Our goal is to maximize valuation and certainty of close while minimizing disruption to management.
We typically recommend a time-limited exclusivity only for specific stages (e.g., final negotiations with a lead investor). Early-stage marketing benefits from a controlled auction (non-exclusive outreach) to create competitive tension. Exclusivity should be limited, well-defined, and tied to clear deliverables.

Documents & Diligence

At minimum: a concise teaser, a Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM), a 3–5 year financial model, cap table, customer contracts, key employee agreements, IP documentation, historical financial statements, and legal entity charts. We also set up a virtual data room with standardized folders for efficient diligence.
Prepare accurate, organized documentation in a virtual data room. Anticipate investor questions on revenue recognition, contracts, churn, unit economics, contingent liabilities, IP ownership, and regulatory compliance. Remediate obvious gaps (e.g., missing employment agreements) pre-emptively to avoid valuation erosion.
We use a two-step approach: a non-confidential teaser for initial outreach, then a signed NDA or standard confidentiality provisions in a term sheet or data room access agreement before sharing the CIM and sensitive documents. We also control access logs and limit document downloads where appropriate.

Economics & Fees

Fees vary by transaction type and size. For equity raises, banking fees often range from 2%–6% of the capital raised, sometimes with a minimum fee. For M&A or sell-side mandates, success fees are typically tiered. There may also be engagement or retainer fees, and expense reimbursement. Fee structures are negotiable and often tied to outcomes and scope.
Yes—legal fees, accounting and audit work, diligence advisory fees (e.g., IP or tax specialists), escrow or trustee fees, and third-party consent costs. Budget for legal counsel both for you and your investors; large transactions commonly incur material professional fees.
Yes, mezzanine lenders or credit funds often seek equity warrants, PIK (payment-in-kind) interest, or covenant-lite concessions. Traditional banks rarely take equity, but private credit providers may. We’ll negotiate to minimize surrender of upside while ensuring access to capital.

Governance & Control

Investors commonly request board seats, observer rights, or reserved matters (veto rights on hiring, budgets, M&A, dividends). The degree of control depends on ownership percentage and negotiated protective provisions. We structure governance to balance investor oversight with management’s operational freedom.
Not necessarily — but with significant equity dilution or investor-friendly protective rights, founders can see material reduction in control. We model ownership and voting outcomes under different scenarios and negotiate protective provisions that preserve management’s ability to execute.
Investors seek standard reps & warranties about organization, authority, financial statements, material contracts, IP ownership, compliance, and tax matters. For negotiated reps, we try to limit disclosure schedules and cap indemnities to reasonable thresholds and time limits.

Negotiation & Closing

We recommend: (1) a disciplined timeline; (2) a targeted investor list; (3) a clear data room; (4) a short, compelling CIM; (5) staged diligence (initial deck, then CIM upon interest); (6) structured management of offers to create competitive tension; and (7) rapid, transparent communication with preferred investors. We lead negotiations, present comparable data, and run a calibrated auction to maximize price and terms.
A term sheet summarizes key commercial terms (valuation, structure, amount, board, major covenants). Most term sheets are non-binding on economic terms but contain binding provisions (exclusivity, confidentiality, breakup fees). We ensure the term sheet aligns with your priorities and limits early legal exposure.
Deal breakers include undisclosed liabilities uncovered in diligence, irreconcilable valuation gaps, unacceptable protective rights (e.g., investor control over operating decisions), regulatory or anti-trust issues, significant customer concentration risk, or management turnover. Early transparency mitigates surprises.

Tax, Legal & Regulatory

Tax implications depend heavily on instrument type, jurisdiction, and corporate structure. Equity sales can trigger capital gains for sellers; debt may have interest deductions for the company. International investors introduce withholding taxes and treaty issues. Engage tax counsel early; we coordinate tax and legal advice with fundraising strategy.
Potentially — depending on sector (financial services, healthcare, telecom), investor nationality (foreign investment review), and industry-specific licenses. We pre-screen investors for regulatory compatibility and engage counsel to anticipate filings and timelines.

Alternatives & Contingency Planning

Options include adjusting the deal structure (e.g., convertible with valuation cap), staging capital raising (smaller bridge round), seeking strategic or corporate investors, tightening operating expenses to extend runway, or exploring debt/refinancing to buy time. We build contingency plans and prioritize options that preserve long-term value.
A sale can deliver immediate liquidity and strategic scale; IPO provides public market access but requires higher governance, disclosure, and cost. We evaluate exit vs. capital-raise trade-offs quantitatively (NPV, dilution, timing) and advise on the path that maximizes shareholder value.

Post-Close & Execution

Post-signature tasks include finalizing closing conditions, transferring funds, updating cap table, implementing governance changes, and delivering post-close covenants (e.g., escrow, earnouts). You should also prepare investor reporting routines, board onboarding, and communication plans for customers and employees.
Establish regular reporting cadence (monthly cash and KPI updates, quarterly board packs), key performance indicators, and escalation protocols. Strong investor relations reduce friction, enable follow-on funding, and can turn investors into strategic partners.
Pre-close alignment on integration objectives, a joint work plan, governance for collaboration, and clear milestones. Early engagement of functional leads (sales, product, legal) ensures operational synergies are captured without distracting core execution.

Ready to Achieve Financial Excellence?

Contact Us!