Liquidity and the drivers of search, due diligence and transaction times for UK commercial real estate investments

Trading commercial real estate involves a process of exchange that is costly and which occurs over an extended and uncertain period of time. This has consequences for the performance and risk of real estate investments. Most research on transaction times has occurred for residential rather than commercial real estate. We study the time taken to transact commercial real estate assets in the UK using a sample of 578 transactions over the period 2004 to 2013. We measure average time to transact from a buyer and seller perspective, distinguishing the search and due diligence phases of the process, and we conduct econometric analysis to explain variation in due diligence times between assets. The median time for purchase of real estate from introduction to completion was 104 days and the median time for sale from marketing to completion was 135 days. There is considerable variation around these times and results suggest that some of this variation is related to market state, type and quality of asset, and type of participants involved in the transaction. Our findings shed light on the drivers of liquidity at an individual asset level and can inform models that quantify the impact of uncertain time on market on real estate investment risk.

Money laundering control and suppression of financing of terrorism : some thoughts on the impact of customer due diligence measures on financial exclusion

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between anti-money laundering (“AML”) and combating of financing of terrorism (“CFT”) customer due diligence (“CDD”) measures in the financial services industry, and exclusion from financial services.
Design/methodology/approach – An introduction to the concept of financial exclusion is provided as well as an overview of international AML/CFT CDD standards. The paper highlights a softening of national CDD measures in South Africa and the UK to lessen the impact on financial exclusion.
Findings – Countries should consider the impact that CDD requirements may have on financial exclusion when they design their AML/CFT systems.
Research limitations/implications – Multi-discilinary research is required to improve the understanding of the broader interaction between AML/CFT objectives, financial exclusion and economic development, especially in countries with a large informal economy.
Practical implications – CDD requirements may unnecessarily exacerbate financial exclusion if they are not formulated with care to reflect the reality of the particular country setting.
Originality/value – The paper offers insights into the international standards resulting to the identification of clients and the experiences in the UK and South Africa regarding the implementation of these standards on financial exclusion.

Dynamic due diligence : an entrepreneurial business planning method for evaluating mergers and acquisitions: theory, case application and general implications

This paper presents a method for conducting dynamic due diligence to evaluate Mergers and Acquisitions; demonstrates its effectiveness in a particular case; and extrapolates its theoretical and practical implications to the general case. It may be called the ‘ECIPP’ method - an acronym for: Establishing mandates; Creating projections; Identifying issues; Prioritizing procedures and Performing them.

Two established alternative due diligence methods are examined. The prevailing finance-theory-based procedure has the virtues of simplicity and elegance; the vice is abstraction. The prevailing practitioner-based regime has the virtues of thoroughness and concreteness but the vices of rigidity and inefficiency. Resolving the tradeoffs inherent in both static prescriptions provides an opportunity for a dynamic, innovative approach derived from grounded theory and an application of Hindle’s (1993) theory of venture renaissance through application of an enhanced paradigm of Entrepreneurial Business Planning. The ECIPP method retains simplicity, concreteness and thoroughness but eliminates abstraction, rigidity and inefficiency.

This is demonstrated in a case. ChildCo’s CEO had only one month to complete his M&A evaluation; no expertise or previous experience; severely limited budget for the exercise and had been flatly informed by prevailing M&A experts that what he wanted could not be done. Using the ECIPP method, the CEO and the author did it: on time, within budget and to the satisfaction of a previously skeptical board of one of the world’s largest multi-national companies including arguably the world’s most professional corporate M&A division.

The replicability logic of the case research permits two generalisations. (1) ECIPP extends the range and utility of Entrepreneurial Business Planning as a management technology, well beyond the constraints to which it is usually confined. (2) The ECIPP method of dynamic due diligence is an innovation worthy of mature consideration and further investigation by theorists and practitioners in the M&A field, in the disciplines of both Finance and Entrepreneurship and, well beyond, in the realms of general management theory, methodology and practice.

Supplier integrity due diligence in public procurement: limiting the criminal risk to Australia

The potential for criminals and terrorism financiers to secure lucrativegovernment contracts poses a risk to Australia’s anti-money laundering,anti-corruption and counter-terrorism financing objectives. This articlecompares the customer due diligence measures that banks are required to implement to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing with the general supplier due diligence practices and processes of key Australian government departments and agencies. It identifies various weaknesses in current procurement practices relating to standard contracts and argues that these render Australian public procurement vulnerable to criminal abuse, threaten compliance with its sanctions regime and potentially undermine the crime combating objectives of its money laundering and terrorism financinglaws. The article recommends that the national interest calls for awhole-of-government approach to improve supplier due diligence in public procurement.

Uso del Due Diligence para la adquisición de una empresa salvadoreña.

En el mundo de los negocios se desarrolla un proceso dinámico de intercambio que ha experimentado transformaciones importantes en las últimas décadas, sin que se pierda la esencia de las transacciones comerciales que nacieron prácticamente desde que existe la raza humana. La raíz del intercambio económico radica en las transacciones de compra y venta de bienes y servicios que se realizan para satisfacer necesidades. Estas transacciones son ejecutadas por personas naturales y jurídicas, que ofrecen bienes y servicios, que son negociados en los distintos mercados. Las empresas, como entidades económicas, también son bienes transables, en las que interviene el capital y el trabajo. Estas son poseedoras de activos, pasivos, generan ingresos y existen con el fin de generar riqueza. La adquisición de una empresa implica: la negociación entre un inversor, que juega el papel de comprador, y un oferente que es el empresario interesado en vender. Ambos buscan alcanzar el máximo beneficio de las operaciones que realizan. Los inversores, hacen uso de distintas herramientas para poder investigar, revisar y ejecutar la transacción de manera óptima y lícita. Una de las herramientas que se utilizada en el mundo moderno de los negocios es el due diligence. El due diligence es un proceso de levantamiento, revisión y análisis de información que se ocupa para varios fines. Regularmente es utilizado para cierres de negocios y se ejecuta siempre que las partes hayan concluido que es factible financieramente una posible transacción de adquisición. El proceso de levantamiento de información incluye aspectos legales, financieros, operativos, mercadológicos y estratégicos. En El Salvador, buena parte de las transacciones de compraventa en micro y pequeñas empresas, se hacen sin tomar en cuenta el due diligence. Las transacciones se realizan de manera tradicional e incluso empíricamente. Sin embargo, en entidades medianas y grandes, que están mejor organizadas y con más recurso financiero, se contratan empresas y/o consultores que se especializan en la realización de estos estudios. El due diligence es una metodología de valoración, no es una auditoría, ni una receta técnica. Es una guía para aplicar la “debida diligencia” y “revisión de negocios”; que varía de acuerdo a las condiciones particulares de cada empresa, así como a la perspicacia y visión del equipo técnico, legal y financiero nombrado por el inversionista y el vendedor.

Nonprofit Boards in Australia: A Distinctive Governance Appoach

This article reports the findings into patterns of governance on nonprofit boards in Australia. The research surveys 118 boards, upon which serve a total of 1405 directors. The findings indicate that nonprofit boards can mimic some aspects of a shareholder approach to governance. But nonprofit boards, in the main, indicate priorities and activities of a stakeholder approach to governance. The features of `isomorphism' that arise largely stem from legislative requirements in corporate governance. Generally, nonprofit directors are influenced by agenda and motivations that can be differentiated from the influences upon director activity in the corporate sector. The study indicates that nonprofit boards prize knowledge and loyalty to the sector when considering board composition. The survey suggests nonprofits ``compensate'' for the demands placed upon them about fiduciary duty and due diligence responsibilities with the diverse intellectual expertise of non-executive directors. Nonprofit boards possess greater diversity than boards in the corporate sector; they include more women as directors than corporate boards and they include a greater proportion of directors from minority groups. While strategic issues feature significantly as a task of the nonprofit board, they distinguish themselves from their corporate counterparts by engaging in operational management. The findings indicate that, in the main, directors on nonprofit boards deliberate and operate in ways distinctive from their corporate counterparts. Such findings offer a contribution to the reform of Corporations Law in other countries and the likely consequence on boards outside the corporate sector.

AITPM Email Newsletter Volume 0909, September 2009: Presidents Message

President’s Message Hello fellow AITPM members, A few weeks have now passed since our 2009 AITPM National Conference, Traffic Beyond Tomorrow, which was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 5 to 7 August. I personally had a most enjoyable and enriching time at the Conference and felt these same “vibes” all around me. Top marks go to the South Australia organising committee, convened by Andrew Leedham, for their dedication to this our flagship event for the year. I could go on to cite my highlights but there were too many to give due diligence here. I had a number of official functions to perform at the Conference, but one in particular worth mentioning was being interviewed by radio stations 5AA, the main news/talk commercial broadcaster in Adelaide, and 891 ABC Adelaide. All interviewers were focussed on the issue of congestion charging, which is interesting in its emergence as a public conversation piece. My main responses focussed on the importance of providing alternatives for travel to the motorist otherwise being charged by a scheme, if and when decisions were made to implement congestion charging. I found that these opportunities to present AITPM as a professional peak body were very fruitful. The Queensland organising committee is now in full swing organising the 2010 AITPM National Conference, What’s New?, so please keep a lookout for related content. You’ll also find within this edition a transcript of my President’s Report to the 2009 AITPM National Annual General Meeting, which was held during the Adelaide Conference. Best regards to all, Jon Bunker