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Showing posts with the label debt

OTC stocks more difficult to trade and deposit

  Mina Mar Group helps micro-cap companies structure their growth. Micro-capitalized companies are those with less than $50,000,000 in equity, sometimes under $1,000,000. Restructuring involves raising money (both debt and stock), and planning how they will eventually harvest that wealth. If you’re a founder or investor, the secret to harvesting your equity is to possess assets with a developed market for their sale; up until recently, that market was the public market. Now, Over-The-Counter Securities (“OTC Securities”) don’t serve that purpose since, unless you’re a tech unicorn doing an IPO, there are essentially no ways to sell the shares you’ve invested in. OTC securities – how they were deposited five years ago. Brokerages all around the country have tightened compliance over the past five years to the point where no one may deposit share certificates into their brokerage accounts, even if they can prove that they paid for them. Consider the following demand from a secondary ...

Changes to Dodd-Frank Act

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Customer Protection Act  was signed into law in 2010 as a response to financial crisis of 2008 by targeting sectors that caused the crisis, banks, mortgage lenders and credit reporting agencies. It reshaped U.S. regulatory system, especially financial sector. From the beginning Dodd-Frank received  criticism that it limits growth potential of financial firms and lovers overall market liquidity. On February 3, 2017 Donald Trump signed an executive order that asked the U.S. Treasury to propose Dodd-Frank changes and a year later on May 24, 2018 President signed into law Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. With this Act, Dodd-Frank wasn't repealed but some of its regulations were loosened. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau still has the control over mortgage lending and credit reporting agencies. It was argued that regulations proposed by Dodd-Frank impose a burden on community banks and ...

Derivatives - explained

Derivative is very complex complex to explain but at its most it is financial contract between two or more parties and it derives its price from an underlying asset. Basically buyer agrees to purchase the asset on a specific date at a specific price. There are numerous types of derivatives and underlying assets can be almost anything but the most common are commodities (oil, gasoline, oil), currencies, stocks, bonds, interest rates and market indexes. They can be traded on unregulated over-the-counter market where transactions happen between private parties or they can be traded on exchange where they are highly regulated and standardized. Bear in mind that OTC constitutes major portion of  derivative market and it caries great counterparty risk - possibility that one of the parties involved might default. Common derivatives are options, futures,swaps and forwards.  Options give the buyer right but not the obligation to sell or purchase underlying asset at a ce...

Common investing mistakes

When trying to learn any skill and reach excellence, mistakes are the natural part of process. There is no way around it, but beginner investor are usually more prone to making these mistakes. Even famous and successful investor have made some of these mistakes at least once. We will look over some of the most common mistakes in hope to raise awareness among future and current investors and help them avoid repeating them. First of all, investing in business and industry that you don't know that well is not a good idea. There is always some "hot" and "up and coming" industry sector but if you don't have much knowledge about that particular industry and don't understand its business model avoid it. For example crypotocurrencies were massive hit, year and a half ago when bitcoin reached its all-time high of $19,500 and then fell to $3,000 a year later. Inexperienced investor could suffer a massive loss if he doesn't fully understand complexity ...

What is a hedge fund?

A hedge fund is an investment fund that collects pools capital from accredited and institutional investors and invest in securities or other type of investments with a goal to generate high returns. What makes them different from mutual funds besides type of investors and diversity of investments is that they are less regulated and have more freedom when utilizing  investing strategies that carry greater risk and potential for loss. Reason why it is available to wealthy investors is their knowledge and understanding of risks involved and ability to afford higher fees and potential loses. This means they can use short selling and other speculative activities unlike mutual funds. To be considered accredited investor individual must have a net worth of $1,000,000 at least or annual income of at least $200,000. Term accredited investor is defined in Rule 501 of Regulation D of Securities and Exchange Commission. Even though hedge funds are not subject to some regulation that...

Market value ratios

Often when you read the business section of newspaper or when you are doing research about particular company on the stock market you come across different ratios. There is so many of them so if you are not accredit investors there is a chance that zou sometimes get confused but these metric are actually helpful if zou know how to interpret them. Bascically they measure quantitive assesments commonly used for comparing and tracking performance. That is why are so widely used by analysts in assesing performance and investing recomendation and by company's mangement also. Depending on the goal of analysts he will choose from range of available data to build metric suitable for that same goal. Company's executive and project managers have differenet goals so they will use different metrics, while the first will concentrate on corporate finance the other will focus on strategec projects. Following the previous article on due diligence we will primarily focus on the positio...

Due Diligence - basics

Due diligence is defined as investigation or audit that reasonable business and person undertakes before potential investment or before entering an agreement to confirm all facts. Most investor are doing research before buying a security but due diligence can be done by a seller who investigates buyer's capability to complete the purchase. After the Securities Act of 1933 due diligence become common practice in United States when brokers and dealers became responsible for disclosing all relevant information about securities they were selling or they will otherwise be accountable and liable for prosecution. This put brokers into sensitive position where they could be unfairly prosecuted. In response creators of the Act set rule that says if broker performed due diligence when investigating companies whose securities they are going to sell and disclose that information to the public they are not held accountable. Not only prospective investors perform due diligence but also ...

Understanding bonds

Bonds is one of the three main asset classes besides stock (equity) and cash equivalents. Bond is considered fixed income security where bond issuer is in debt to the bond holder and is obliged to pay him an interest. It can be understood as a form of a loan where holder of the bond is creditor, issuer of the bond is borrower and coupon is interest that he pays. Issuers of the bonds are companies, municipalities, states and governments which used funds obtained through bonds to finance long term investments and current expenditures. Bondholders are debt holders that have priority over stockholders but are ranked behind secured creditors in case of insolvency. Bonds have maturity date when the principal is due to be paid and interest rate that can be fixed or variable. Principal is face value of the bond, actual amount that is on the bond which will be paid to the holder at the maturity date. Fixed rates remain the same through the set period while variable rates fluctuate o...

What you need to know about preferred stock?

Preferred stock, also know as preferred or preference shares is one of the main types of stock besides common shares. It is considered that preferred stock is a hybrid security that combines properties of debt (fixed dividends) and equity (potential to raise in price). They are distinct from common shares because they don't have voting rights but have higher claim on company's assets and earnings. Terms of preferred stock are described in issuing document; they can be issued under any set of terms that is compliant to laws and regulations. Preference in dividends is what distinguish preferred  from common stock. Board of directors makes decision whether or not company will pay dividends to its shareholders. Dividends are specified as percentage of the par value or as a fixed amount. Common shareholders can receive dividends only if preferred shareholders are already paid in full if board decides to pay them dividends in the first place. This makes them similar to bonds...

Types of financing (part 1)

There are two basic types of financing: debt financing and equity financing. Debt financing happens when business borrow money from a lender at a fixed or floating interest rate for a specified period of time. The most important characteristic is that debt financing is that doesn't give a lender part of ownership. Terms of the loan are dependent upon what the loan is being used for. Loans are most common and popular sort of debt financing. Business usually borrows from commercial lenders like bank and they offer some collateral as a form of a security for a loan. Loans have fixed periods and they are pay in regular intervals with interest rate. They can be short term, medium and long term in duration depending on the needs of business. Short term loans are used for temporary and seasonal loans. The most common type of short term loan is line of credit, agreement between borrower and lender that establishes maximum amount that customer can borrow and use it ...

Chapter 11 financing and reorganization - Mina Mar Group

When you start your business you are so concentrated on growing and expending your business that you forget to consider the downsides of business cycles. Business cycles are sequences of economic activity that is characterized by four phases: recession, recovery, growth and decline that repeat themselves.Decline or downturn makes the end of growth period in the business cycle. It is characterized by decreased levels of consumer and reduced production. Maybe you missed to devise downturn business cycle management strategy and found yourself trapped in a situation where your creditors are hounding.  Toxic financing can demolish your life's work and erode your shareholder value. It happens when financier can convert preferred shares and convertible stock into common stock that they sell on the market in order to be repaid and earn a profit on investment. The formula for the conversion is structured so that there is no downside limit on the price received for converted ...

Chapter 11

Bankruptcy happens when business is unable to pay its debts and creditors. Business can file with federal bankruptcy court  for protection, usually under chapter 7 or chapter 11. In the United States bankruptcy is governed by federal law commonly referred to as the "Bankruptcy Code". Bankruptcy cases are filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and federal law govern procedure in bankruptcy cases but state laws are often applied to determine how bankruptcy affect property rights and debtors. Two major types of bankruptcy are Chapter 7 and Chapter 11. Chapter 7 happens when company ceases all of its operation and goes completely out of business. A trustee is appointed to sell (liquidate) company's assets in order to pay off its debt. Debts are payed off according  to absolute priority. It is rule that secured claims are paid before junior claims are paid. In that order secured creditors are paid first, then bondholders and in the end shareholders. In other words, invest...

Advantages of RTO (Canada)

There are several potential advantages of going public through reverse takeover transaction. One of the biggest is better access to financing options. Usually private placement is conducted simultaneously with reverse takeover.  It will provide capital for company's future plan and projects and also fund the expenses of RTO. Public company that is reporting issuer has the opportunity to raise additional capital. Secondary offering require prospectus forms that are significantly shorter and are subjected to shorter review period by the Securities Commission in comparison to RTO transaction. Also, public companies are in more favorable position to obtain debt financing. If company complies with periodic reporting requirements it makes it more attractive to lenders and debt investors. Small and growing companies  in Canada also have lower listing requirements and less continuous disclosure obligations (TSXV and CSE). Being public company provides greater liquidity f...

Benefits of cross-listing

Cross-listing also known as cross border listing is when a company list its securities on one or more foreign exchanges in addition to domestic exchange. Publicly held companies still trading in the U.S. undertake listings on overseas exchange for variety of reasons. Simply put, no company would do it if it didn't bring some benefits and indeed there are plenty of them. Cross border listing broadens shareholders base and enhance your visibility among overseas investors. Actually it is also beneficial for investors that can get a chance to diversify their portfolio especially in sectors that are not available on the local stock market. This way investors can invest in U.S. company and trade locally. This is a great way to attract new capital so you can decide to raise debt or equity. Additional funds can be used to grow and expand your business even more. Since there is usually difference in time zones this enables company to trade its stock a longer time. Diversifi...

Capital Advisory - Mina Mar Group

The focus of the division of our capital advisory services is to offer the quickest and most cost-saving solution to the capital needs of our clients and also determine and reduce the risk involved in the process. Our objectives are accomplished in different ways: Determination and assessment of the opportunities for growth of private and public firms and private equity companies looking for opportunities to invest Deciding of the most viable investment and/or capital for different organizations Identification and assessment of the partners that are the best Reduction of risk through the use of due diligence Processing of the investment thesis of our clients and other important data to ensure    that financial goals are achieved Helping our clients throughout every stage of the process From private equity to the mezzanine, venture capital, strategic investment, debt, IPO, M&A, and much more, we have the ability to secure all sorts of ...