This interactive workshop session will explore recent trends in finance and the implications for closely held enterprises.

• What are the key options for companies to finance their growth?
• Is the division between equity and debt funding evolving?
• How can we, as lawyers, continue to add value and ensure appropriate legal certainty for our clients in each of these models?
• Have the regulators clipped the wings of banks and cryptocurrencies?
• How is the face of finance changing?

In the first part of the workshop, delegates will work in groups to discuss a topic selected from the following:

• Alternate forms of financing I: Fintech, crowdfunding and lending, and cryptocurrencies – what are the latest developments and the legal implications for closely held enterprises?
• Alternative forms of financing II: loans with profit participation, convertible loans, options and other hybrid instruments – what are the latest terms and structures, and the legal implications for closely held enterprises?
• New players as alternatives to banks: VCs and other non-bank players – what are the terms they want?
• The rise of the regulator: what does this mean for the lending landscape?
• Getting your business bank debt ready – how to act for borrowers when seeking bank funding
• Forms of mezzanine capital and their implications for closely held businesses
• Advantages and disadvantages of debt and equity financing
• Restructuring (eg, debt equity swap) and refinancing – key issues to consider and the traps to avoid
• Due diligence and the role of lawyers in various types of financing: opinions and counsel reports (reliance versus release letters)
• Personal guarantees versus security