Silver Fleet Capital Invests in PhaseOne

[ndevlin]

Again, it's comical to see you blow your lid in almost all of the 351 posts you've made here.
Maybe you should go out for a walk and enjoy some fresh air once in a while. I'm sure Phase One will survive in the meantime.

+1  

Enough trolling. Discuss like you were sitting in room across from the other person, sipping a scotch after a good day shooting in the field. Courtesy or nothing.

- N.

[michael]

Please read Nick's latest post, above. Either behave like mature adults or be gone.

Frankly, the amount of misinformation being spouted in this thread is appalling. Conjectures are made out of thin air that have no basis in fact.

Please put your feet back on the ground and discuss matters like mature adults who have at least a modicum of information about what you're talking about.

Michael

[hubell]

Really remarkable what an announcement about the LBO of Phase One can elicit in childish comments.
It is completely unclear from the avsilsble information how much of the money that Silverfleet "invested" went into the pockets of the existing shareholders and how much of it stayed in the company for expansion. My expectation is that most if not sll of the money went to the existing shareholders and NOT into the company for expansion.
I congratulate the Phase One team. They should be justly proud of building an excellent company and were very smart to lay off some of the future risks in this business that we endlessly speculate about.
I do not expect a transaction of this type to be the CAUSE of future success or failure. The marketplace of the high end photography business will determine that. I expect that the same management team will still be running the company and they still a 40% stake in the its future.

[gerald.d]

Really remarkable what an announcement about the LBO of Phase One can elicit in childish comments.
It is completely unclear from the avsilsble information how much of the money that Silverfleet "invested" went into the pockets of the existing shareholders and how much of it stayed in the company for expansion. My expectation is that most if not sll of the money went to the existing shareholders and NOT into the company for expansion.

Silverfleet's own statement would seem to disagree with that -

Silverfleet said in a statement that it will help the company to grow through the potential acquisition of complementary businesses or technology.

/edit
Additionally...

"Joining Silverfleet in the deal are the existing management team, who are forfeiting a majority stake in the business but also reinvesting their own money for a 'substantial' minority stake."

[Rob C]

No, you're better looking!

Manoli, you've just sent a warm glow to my heart and the hint of a slight flush to my cheeks!

Bringing some grounding to this thread, if not exactly light relief: I was walking past a café an hour or so ago when I was greeted by a chap who used to run a restaurant that my wife and I frequented over twenty years ago. He was sitting alone, holding a crutch. I reached out to shake his hand, to discover that he'd lost the fingers of his left hand; on looking further I noticed that both his feet were wrapped in bandages and looked very short. I asked him what the hell he'd been doing. Turns out he'd been operated for colonic cancer, and had caught a virus in hospital. This led to gangrene and the losses he suffered of his extremities.

I don't suppose the future of any photographic company would mean very much to him...

Let's count our blessings which, in fact, I am happy to admit that I do every night when I lie there in bed awaiting the drift into the arms of Morpheus, who then wafts me off to whatever takes his fancy. I do wish he had a more positive imagination or master plan for me than seems his wont.

;-(

Rob C

[hubell]

Silverfleet's own statement would seem to disagree with that -

/edit
Additionally...

"Joining Silverfleet in the deal are the existing management team, who are forfeiting a majority stake in the business but also reinvesting their own money for a 'substantial' minority stake."

That simply means that the existing owners sold 60% and retained 40% of the company's stock. They did not "invest" one additional penny of capital in the company. Silverfleet may have put some of its money into the company, but I will bet it was a relatively small percentage of its money. The Phase One management/stockholders did this transaction primarily, if not exclusively, to take a large part of their chips off the table.

[Ben Rubinstein]

Would it be fair to be worried given what happened when Hasselblad got the VC treatment? I don't know anything about the economics of the situation or business stuff but to me it just looks worrying given what has happened to their biggest (only real?) competitor.

[gerald.d]

Would it be fair to be worried given what happened when Hasselblad got the VC treatment? I don't know anything about the economics of the situation or business stuff but to me it just looks worrying given what has happened to their biggest (only real?) competitor.

Conversely, look at how well things (seem to have) turned out for Leica.

Phase One don't have the "brand history" that Hasselblad do. I can't imagine for one moment that the plan is to bring out a bunch of blinged out accessories.

[RichDesmond]

But I repeat once again.

I bet it was not in their strategy 3 years ago to sell out. So something hasn't gone to plan.

Your implicit assumption seems to be that that's a bad thing. Not necessarily. It's possible that a combination of P1s growth, a changing market and the appearance of an outside investor with ready cash opened up possibilities that they didn't consider achievable 3 years ago. Sticking to the plan from then could well be their worst option.

The bottom line is that none of us knows if this will be great thing for the MF world, or a disaster. I'm more inclined to think the former, but then I'm generally an optimist.

[Steve Hendrix]

Conversely, look at how well things (seem to have) turned out for Leica.

Phase One don't have the "brand history" that Hasselblad do. I can't imagine for one moment that the plan is to bring out a bunch of blinged out accessories.

Let's hope not! Though the opportunities are endless...


Steve Hendrix
Capture Integration

[Conner999]

As the man always says, profitability is but an accounting exercise - cash is king.

Quote from prior poster:

"If the report and the figures are correct then Phase One was valued at about $180 million USD / £110 million GBP, which seems incredibly low if all the previous profitability reports were to be believed. Based on figures from www.proff.dk/firma/phase-one-as/frederiksberg/fremstilling-af-optiske-instrumenter-og-fotografisk-udstyr/13477705-2/ , though their net operating profit and return on assets looked good, the liquidity ratio** did not. If true, this could explain why Phase chose to sell out sooner rather than later."

[Manoli]

That simply means that the existing owners sold 60% and retained 40% of the company's stock. They did not "invest" one additional penny of capital in the company.

With respect, you can't know that. It's quite possible that after the takeover a share issue/capital increase was made with equal participation.

Silverfleet may have put some of its money into the company, but I will bet it was a relatively small percentage of its money.

Given that, in their own words, financing was by Nordea - most likely. This is an LBO pure and simple

The Phase One management/stockholders did this transaction primarily, if not exclusively, to take a large part of their chips off the table.

Again, on a speculative note (with Michael's indulgence), that's a possibility but if Phase had needed additional equity, given the economic environment of QE and rising stock markets, the most obvious path would have been an IPO, this would have avoided the additional debt burden. Equally, I see nothing in the story so far that precludes the possibility (more likely probability) that the CEO of Silver Fleet is a PhaseOne user and has seized this opportunity to do a Leica/Kaufman. And THAT may not be a bad thing.

It's also worth noting that some are using the VC moniker. These are not venture capitalists, they're Private Equity - there's a difference.

[gerald.d]

IF the new owners are looking for a complementary business/technology to buy, then there's always...

[hubell]

Let's hope not! Though the opportunities are endless...


Steve Hendrix
Capture Integration

Just what the world has been crying out for.....a blinged out version of the Mamiya AFDIII!!!!!Q

[Wayne Fox]

That simply means that the existing owners sold 60% and retained 40% of the company's stock. They did not "invest" one additional penny of capital in the company. Silverfleet may have put some of its money into the company, but I will bet it was a relatively small percentage of its money. The Phase One management/stockholders did this transaction primarily, if not exclusively, to take a large part of their chips off the table.

I guess this is the unknown here.  Typically in a deal like this there is no influx of money to the company, the capital firm purchases 60% and that money is used pay off the debt, the remaining balance goes to the previous owners.  Additionally, this sounds like a leveraged buyout because bank financing was mentioned.  Often the forward challenge in these situations is the bank, not the capital firm.

But everything here points to most of this money being left in PhaseOne for financing future growth including acquisitions.  This to me would be the previous owners money ... a substantial investment.  There is no disclosure as to the structure of the funding, but to me it appears it isn’t a typical “we’re ready to bail and need to get most of our chips off the table” type of arrangement.

Of course total speculation ... no one has any clue at all as to the arrangement or the business plan.  And while we are all aware of massive failures of many many investments by VC firms, in fact there are more  success stories than failures.  They just don’t make the news.  Were this not true they wouldn’t be in business.

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

We have to wait and see to find out. Hopefully, the company needed capital for expansion.

Best regards
Erik

I guess this is the unknown here.  Typically in a deal like this there is no influx of money to the company, the capital firm purchases 60% and that money is used pay off the debt, the remaining balance goes to the previous owners.  Additionally, this sounds like a leveraged buyout because bank financing was mentioned.  Often the forward challenge in these situations is the bank, not the capital firm.

But everything here points to most of this money being left in PhaseOne for financing future growth including acquisitions.  This to me would be the previous owners money ... a substantial investment.  There is no disclosure as to the structure of the funding, but to me it appears it isn’t a typical “we’re ready to bail and need to get most of our chips off the table” type of arrangement.

Of course total speculation ... no one has any clue at all as to the arrangement or the business plan.  And while we are all aware of massive failures of many many investments by VC firms, in fact there are more  success stories than failures.  They just don’t make the news.  Were this not true they wouldn’t be in business.

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

If the investment means we're finally going to see  a new MF camera replacing the 645D+ and being superior to the Hy6,
bigger sensors playing well with view cameras and new and fast lenses I think it's probably good news.
I don't believe Mr.Håkonsson would have accepted the deal if he hadn't any plan and
Phase One seems not to be in a situation to desperately need fresh money,
but of course they can use any money to expand and consolidate their business.
Exciting times in the MFD world.
I'm curious what Photokina this year will bring.
Cheers
~Chris

[eronald]

Just what the world has been crying out for.....a blinged out version of the Mamiya AFDIII!!!!!Q

The best satire is often the truth

Edmund

[NickT]

Just FYI
The plans to bring out Hasselblad products like the Stellar were made well before VC got involved.

Nick-T

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

The Bling Thing: