About Katmo Group
An ownership decision can involve several shareholders with different expectations of the same transaction. Katmo Group gives the advisory work a defined remit, establishing whose interests we represent and how instructions will be agreed.
Our purpose is to help the client reach a decision with an informed understanding of its consequences. That requires attention to the commercial question itself and to how the recommendation will be used by the people responsible for the outcome.
We take responsibility for the work within our appointment and for explaining the recommendations that follow. Authority to proceed remains with the client.
Agreeing The Mandate
An engagement starts with identifying the decision to be supported and the people responsible for making it. An instruction from an individual shareholder can have a different remit from an appointment by the company, and that distinction needs to be understood before work begins.
Katmo Group agrees the scope with the client and identifies the information needed to carry it out. We also establish where another adviser has a responsibility that affects the assignment, including work already under way.
- The appointment
- The engagement identifies the client and the people authorised to give instructions.
- The work
- The remit describes the analysis or support to be provided, together with the expected form of the findings.
- The timetable
- Key decision dates determine when information and recommendations are needed.
- Changes to scope
- Additional work is discussed with the client, including its effect on timing and fees.
Where an assignment involves several decision-makers, Katmo Group agrees how recommendations will be put to them. This allows questions to be addressed before a collective instruction is given.
The Basis of Our Advice
Katmo Group explains the information used in its assessment and the assumptions that connect that information to a conclusion. Estimates supplied by management are identified as such, with questions raised where supporting records differ.
For example, a forecast based on signed customer contracts has a different foundation from one that depends on winning new business. We identify that distinction and consider how much reliance the proposed decision places on the expected revenue.
Information can also be incomplete or inconsistent across different records. Where a gap affects the advice, we explain the question it leaves open and the further work needed to resolve it.
Discussing a Recommendation
Clients should be able to question the basis of the work and understand the consequences of an alternative course. We make those discussions part of the assignment, including where an owner's expectations differ from the financial assessment.
Katmo Group sets out the reasons for its recommendation and the circumstances that could change it. When there are competing considerations, the advice explains the trade-offs and identifies the choice that remains with the client.
Responsibility Through the Engagement
Transaction work brings together advisers with different responsibilities. Katmo Group coordinates its contribution with the specialists appointed to the assignment, keeping questions with the people qualified to address them.
The practical task is to connect those contributions. A point raised in legal diligence can require financial assessment; a proposed commercial term can need tax advice before the client decides whether to accept it.
- Commercial advice
- We assess the business implications of the matters identified and explain the choices they create.
- Specialist input
- Legal and tax conclusions remain with the relevant advisers. Katmo Group incorporates their findings into its work within the agreed remit.
Progress discussions focus on outstanding decisions and the information needed to make them. We identify dependencies between workstreams so that the client can see where an unresolved question is affecting the proposed timetable.
If circumstances change, Katmo Group explains the effect on the existing advice. This includes distinguishing an issue that requires a revised assessment from one that can be addressed within the current recommendation.
Specialist advisers
Some assignments require advice outside Katmo Group’s appointment. Legal documentation, financial diligence, transaction insurance and post-completion implementation may each require separate specialist input.
Katmo Group works alongside advisers selected for the requirements of the assignment. Their work remains separate from our commercial and financial assessment, with responsibilities agreed at the outset.
Where specialist findings affect the proposed transaction, we consider their implications for the client’s position and the decision ahead.
Handling Sensitive Information
Confidentiality forms part of the mandate from the outset. We agree how business information may be shared and who is authorised to receive it.
The purpose of a disclosure determines the information required. Initial discussions with a potential counterparty and a subsequent diligence exercise call for different levels of detail, with permissions agreed for the relevant stage.
Katmo Group discusses proposed disclosures with the client before information is released. Where material concerns third parties, we identify the need for any further permissions with the client's advisers.
Explore The Advisory Work
The firm's working arrangements apply across its transaction and valuation assignments. The service scope then determines the particular analysis and support provided.