9 - Chapter 8
AJ, Sunny and Sally went off to call their offices back with the social plans for the evening. The reactions from the rest of the partners was just as shocking as they had expected. Most could not believe that not only had everyone been invited to an event the same day, that their partners had also been invited and the company would pick up any costs incurred. This was before the contracts had been signed, or announcements made to the wider teams. This left the partners with a quandary, if they waited for the contracts to be signed, then that would leave very little time to inform people and make arrangements, however if they announced the deal and it didn't happen, it would be very bad for morale.
So the 3 collectively with their partners decided to use the party as the venue for the announcement. It would give them around 5 hours to get the deal finalised, paperwork drawn up and a binding deal memo signed. They could then complete the due diligence and final contract signing as soon as possible. With that decided, the three returned to Tasha whilst their partners back in the office went around informing the teams about a work event and announcement that would be happening that evening along with the event details and perks.
Once back in the meeting suite, the 6 people were more relaxed then would usually be the case in similar situations.
“So, I take it you have informed everyone of the party tonight. How did the office react to the news?” asked Ingrid knowing the chaos they must have caused for the remaining partners.
“I am sure you know the issues you caused with the impromptu meeting,” replied Sunny laughing. “But it was funny too. I am sure the office is being turned upside down right now”
“Well. lets get the deal finalised so that we can look forward to the party and not work.” smirked Tasha.”All you need to do is get three deal memos drafted reviewed and signed.”
“Let's set the tone for our working relationship going forward.” continued Tasha.” First, I need there to be full transparency and trust between the teams. We are going to be one team. So I am happy to discuss the deals with everyone in the room. We have nothing to hide. So let's start with you Sunny. I am guessing you have team members coming to help finalise the contracts?”
“Yes I have 2 associates and a paralegal on their way. Should be here within the next 1 hour at the latest. Can you go over the deal terms and any other documents you need finalised today” said Sunny.
“Ok, so first the deal memos. So our priority in the deals is integrity and confidentiality. We are less bothered by the finance side. You three will understand why soon. So the terms covering integrity and confidentiality must be rock solid. In terms of financials, for you Sunny the deal is we take over just over 50% of voting rights and pay your partners a buy out fee of £5M. We can discuss the terms for any investment as needed. Yes you can bill us for any hours at your standard rates.” replied Tasha. “For AJ, the terms are the same as Sunny’s firm. For Sally, it's a little more complicated.m We will be taking over the firm completely. Sunny you will need to work out how to structure that and who will lead there to comply with the regulators. The firm is carrying debt, see if you can use your firm to buy the debt cheaply, if not then we will pay it as part of the purchase. No point overspending with outside firms if we don't need to. The existing partners, aside from Sally, will be on a fixed £150k per year salary plus the standard package that we will be offering to all staff. Finally the firm will have a discretionary budget for environmental cases. The budget will be overseen by Sally and Ingrid with joint sign off. We will finalise the figures for the budget based on a review of requirements and what the team can handle but provisionally it will be £50m for this year.”
That shocked everyone in the room. The deal basically allowed the team to operate independently with very little oversight.
“Sally will take on the role Head of ESG on £350k, AJ will take on the role head of Finance on £250k and Sunny you will take on the role head of Legal also on £250k. James will be my right hand and officially from COO on £500K and Ingrid will head up the foundation, so CEO of the foundation, and head of charitable works within the group also on £500k.” continued Tasha.”You will also need to set up the various company structures that are required and the charitable foundation. The initial budget for the foundation will be £100M.”
“What is the standard package that you want to offer everyone? Does that apply to exiting staff at our 3 companies too?” asked Sunny.
“Yes, we want everyone to be covered by the same package, we like to treat our staff well.” quipped Tasha. “ Everyone, who is there now, or joins us in the coming days will get the same package. Full private medical, life insurance, company cars. pensions etc. In addition we will provide death in service benefits. The spouse of any staff member who passes away in service will get 50% salary till their youngest turns 18. In addition the company will pick up all education costs up to university for all children of our staff. That is from now, not just a death benefit. We are prepared to look after our staff, but we expect them to work hard and be loyal.”
“Wow, that is a lot and will be a shock to most people. I am sure happy we decided to join up with you now.” replied a smiling Sunny. “We can get that done, though it will take time to set up all the policies.”
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“I am sure you can get your team to start looking at a lot of that work. Besides this is just the start, I would suggest you create good processes as you will need to replicate if for a lot of new staff over the coming days.” said Tasha. “Once we onboard the tech company, you can look at automating a lot of this work.”
“You do realise that you are going to be spending nearly £200M and we haven't even looked at investments with financial returns yet right?” asked AJ.
“Let's get the contracts signed, and I can take you all behind the curtain,” said Tasha. “Also we have big plans for the future. We will be building out a complex for our firm. That will hold not only offices, but basically a village including housing for our staff if they want them.”
Everyone’s jaw hit the floor at that announcement.
“So get cracking people. This is just the pre-work for the start of the real work.” teased Tasha. “Also we have a meeting set with a potential investment opportunity for Friday and we will need a draft and I am expecting you all to join me for that meeting too.”
As they talked through the details, Sunny's team arrived. He took them off to another room to start going through the work. Sally decided to join them to help them out.
AJ sat thinking through the issues. “We are going to have to build a proper audit function. With the kind of money you are already throwing around, if we dont keep and validate accurate records we could easily fall foul of money laundering regulations.” said a contemplative AJ.”That will need to be its own stream separate from finance. I think we should look at bringing on a head of audit.”
“So add it to your task list. Same kind of deal we are putting together for you guys.” replied Tasha. “Use them to run financial due diligence on all deals we are putting together. If you know someone, call them in.”
“Sure, in fact why don't I do it just here, unless we have something else to cover while we wait for the lawyers?” replied AJ.
With a go ahead from Tasha, Ingrid and James also returned to work on the next phase of the work.
AJ called one of his competitors Robert. “Hey Robert, how are you doing? Listen, do you have time to get down to the Waldorf Astoria? Yes, right now if you can clear your calendar. We have some potentially large contracts for your team.They client is looking at finalising the deal today, so the sooner the better. Yeah just ask for TA Consulting when you get here. See you soon.” said AJ. “He is on his way. He will be here soon.”
With everyone busy with their tasks, Tasha took a break and ordered lunch for everyone. It also gave Tasha the time to go a quick background check on Robert’s company.
A knock on the door heralded Robert's arrival. “Hey Robert, come in come in. Let me introduce you to James, Ingrid and Tasha. Tasha is the client I mentioned.” said AJ as he introduced everyone. “I recommended you as the best for setting up an in depth audit function.”
“Thanks for recommending me AJ. It's nice to meet everyone. What was the short notice?” asked Robert.
“Actually that's our fault Robert, we made a list of functions we would need, but totally forgot to add audit to our list. Normally we would go through a competitive screen Robert, but since you come recommended we can skip that part.” said Tasha. “So what we are offering a nutshell is that you take over and setup audit for the entire growing group. Further you come on board as the head of audit for the group too. The way we work is that we would buy controlling percentage in your company. You, your partners and staff stay independent, just become part of the group. You would get a salary of £250k plus package for the head of role, and based on your firms size we can offer you £5M for just over 50% ownership. AJ can give you all the details”
“Also,” added a mischievous Ingrid, “if you are taking the deal, we will sign a binding deal memo today and we have a company event this evening at Roka, your staff and their partners are invited to attend. We will cover transport and child care costs to ensure everyone can make it.”
As they were talking, Tasha got a call from the bank. “Sorry I need to take this, can you take it from here AJ?” asked Tasha.
AJ nodded and Tasha answered the phone to an excited Anita.
“Tasha, what did you do? I am being promoted to a senior leadership role and have been tasked with being the liaison with your company.” said Anita.
“I am glad to hear it, the random guy who called me, I didn't have good vibes about him, so I told him to either promote you or lose my business. I guess he made the right choice.” replied Tasha. “Since you are calling, you are invited to a company event tonight at Roka in Aldwych. I can introduce you to the team and you can help the right people get the right access. We will also need to set up a bunch of bank accounts for new companies in the group and probably a bunch of accounts for any of our staff if they want to switch banking over to you.”
“I should be able to make it tonight. Let me make a few arrangements, the rest should be straight forward. I will setup a meeting for later it the week to complete due diligence and KYC formalities.” answered Anita. “See you tonight”
“So Robert, are you on board?” asked Anita after finishing her call.
Robert was still shocked by the deal and the speed with which it was happening. “I will need to speak to my partners, but I am inclined to accept the deal Tasha.” replied a happy Robert, “It really is too good to pass up.”
“I am glad to hear it Robert. Welcome aboard.” said Tasha, “AJ why don't you take Robert to Sunny and get him to give us all the details we need for the deal memo. That way by the time he has convinced his partners to the deal and asked everyone to come to the party, the deal memo will be ready to sign.”
“Sure thing Tasha.” replied AJ. “Don't worry Robert, she did the same to all of us today, and we wouldn't want you to feel left out.”
AJ took a bewildered Robert to Sunny. Tasha thought through her list. Given how fast the team was growing, she really needed to prioritise security next.