Imagine a scenario where you’re about to board a plane for a lengthy flight and you’re tasked with putting together a comprehensive checklist covering the ideal attributes of the pilot.
What is needed to see that flight through successfully and without incident?
Poise under pressure. A clear communicator. Someone who can work in a team setting or individually. And perhaps most importantly, when the inevitable turbulence arises, you’ll need a level head.
It’s precisely these attributes that are in the wheelhouse of Andrew Mackenzie and the expert team at Manning Elliott.
Specializing in the fields of valuations and litigation support, Mackenzie’s expertise lies in making the complex, simple.
“Our work is really about taking a bunch of complex topics and distilling it down to what’s truly relevant to the parties and then presenting it in a fashion that both sides are able to understand,” Mackenize explains. “We are about solving problems, because If you don’t get buy-in from both parties, the deal is not going to get done and you’ve just wasted a bunch of money and time.”
Though most valuators are jacks of all trades, Mackenize’s problem-solving sweet spot lies in two fields: value advisory and litigation support.
With respect to value advisory, Mackenzie helps small and medium businesses on the pricing side to determine if his client is getting the best value for the asset.
It’s a process that begins with first understanding the industry by doing a deep dive into that specific sector. The Manning Elliott team also relies on a variety of databases that identify “precedent transactions” that detail what similar business in those industries sold for.
A risk profile is also established to identify the very real nuances unique to each business.
“It’s not as simple as just looking at the numbers, you have to also understand the business that you’re valuating,” Mackenzie says.
Litigation support typically centers around two people contesting an asset or an amount of money related to the business. This is where lawyers hire Mackenzie and he’s tasked with putting on his referee hat to navigate the financial perspective of the deal, and if need be, provide testimony in a court setting.
Put into real-world terms, one of the cases Mackenzie is working on involves a litigation matter where construction defects resulted in a manufacturing facility being forced to halt operations. The plaintiff has been locked in litigation for three years attempting to establish who will pay for the damage, while half a dozen contractors point fingers at one another.
Someone is liable and it’s not Mackenzie’s client.
Mackenize steps in to assess if the building can still be used to mitigate some losses, and if so, how much money could be made in the interim.
“This is not necessarily a simple exercise, so that’s where I step in and help out,” Mackenzie says.
Another recent case that reached an ideal conclusion saw Mackenize assisted a business owner with a terminal illness who was looking to sell his business and had a preliminary offer on the table. Because time was of the essence, there was an expectation that the client would take a haircut on the transaction, but Mackenize’s valuation and advisory services assisted the client in more than doubling the final sale price.
“He came back to us and said ‘I was able to put aside more money than I anticipated for my family because you guys pushed me in that direction,’ so that was a nice outcome,” Mackenzie says.
Beyond the training, track record and expertise, there is also a human touch at Manning Elliott that can’t be quantified in dollars and cents.
An email sent is an email answered – not in two weeks, but on the double. And that correspondence includes all the requisite focus, attention to detail and care to put a client in the best possible situation, with the most information available.
“I try to walk into a meeting with a solution, not a problem,” Mackenzie says. “We are focused on adding value, but staying within our area of expertise, so that we’re serving your purpose and adding a lot of value collaboratively with the client and their team.”
