Buy-ins tricky warn corporate finance experts

Retail hawks eyeing possible management buy-in deals could face difficulties persuading investors to back projects, a corporate finance expert has warned.

Talking to a round table of prospective buy-in raiders, Grant Thornton corporate finance partner David Brooks warned that venture capitalists viewed buy-ins as risky.

He told attendees assembled by executive recruitment specialist Penna Interim that venture capitalists preferred to back MBOs or buy-in management-buy-out (BIMBO) teams, which comprise a mixture of existing and new management. BIMBO teams had, he said, become 'flavour of the month'.