As part of the on-going Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC)-RBC Royal Bank small business series, ICCC’s small and medium enterprise (SME) committee organized an interactive session on Funding for Growth on February 4 in Mississauga.

Adrian Cayton, Vice President, Commercial Financial Services, Toronto East Supply Chain, RBC Royal Bank, and Randy Roth, Managing Director, Corporate Finance, RBC Royal Bank, made separate presentations on the subject.

Mr. Cayton’s presentation dealt with financing including star-ups, working capital, etc. In broad terms the presentation covered the entire gamut of the funding for growth and touched upon the causes for need of funding to the manner in which the funding agencies view proposals and ultimately the path to successful outcomes. He discussed the following areas of funding for growth: catalysts, consequences, implications, criteria, metrics, solutions, safeguards, success factors.

Mr. Roth’s presentation dealt with mergers and acquisitions, financing, buyouts, etc. In broad terms the presentation covered financing for inorganic growth through mergers and acquisitions, the different levels of financing needs, the risk evaluation criteria and the approach financial institutions adopt for the disbursement. He discussed the following areas of funding for mergers and acquisitions: Canadian M&A activity, Balance sheet capitalization, Overview – subordinated debt, Overview – mezzanine financing, What lenders look for in “junior capital”, Subordinated debt – inter-creditor agreement, Characteristics of a high value business.

Brij K. Sharma, ICCC’s Director for Trade, SME and Sponsorship, in his welcome remarks emphasized the growing need for interaction between financial institutions and small businesses for both to realize the tremendous synergies that can be created, leading to funding for growth for small businesses. He said ICCC and RBC Royal Bank have devised the small business series to focus upon topics that are relevant to small business entrepreneurs.

D.P. Jain, Treasurer and Director, ICCC; and Rajni Tekriwal, Corporate Secretary and Director, ICCC; introduced the speakers, and Naval Bajaj, President, ICCC; delivered the concluding remarks.