Interview with Diane Roy and Romain Chaufour for CFNEWS
Receivables financing is a working-capital funding tool that private equity players do not always consider sufficiently in LBO transactions. Yet, in many cases, it can be less expensive to implement than traditional bank debt and revolving credit facilities (RCF), which it can either replace or complement.
Interview transcript
Bogdan Kowal: Hello and thank you for joining us to discuss receivables financing with Diane Roy and Romain Chaufour from Fibus, a consultancy firm specialised in this expertise and well known among private equity investors. You told me off-camera that you are the only brokers working so actively with LBO funds. Romain, Diane, welcome. Why is receivables financing particularly relevant in an LBO context?
Romain Chaufour: It is an ideal form of financing to support growth – whether organic or external. It is relatively low-cost, fairly straightforward to implement, and above all it is both off-balance sheet treatment / derecognition of receivables and uncapped. This means it does not impact leverage and it scales naturally with revenue and receivables growth.
Bogdan: Do you have concrete examples?
Romain: Yes. Recently, we supported several buy-and-build platforms in consolidating industries, integrating external growth into receivables financing programmes. For instance, we are currently working on a precision engineering group where we structured a €40m facility in France. A major acquisition in the United States was then integrated into the structure, effectively doubling the financing line.
Bogdan: Diane, which types of companies are best suited to receivables financing?
Diane Roy: Simply put, any B2B company that issues invoices. It is a highly accessible form of financing. Some sectors are more naturally “financeable” than others, but in practice it is extremely rare not to find a solution. What really matters is timing. The earlier receivables financing is considered, the better the conditions will be when the facility is implemented. In LBO situations, we typically recommend that funds engage with us within the first year after closing. This avoids periods where finance teams are fully absorbed by integration and bolt-on acquisitions. Anticipation is key.
Romain: Exactly. We are talking about analysing receivables financing potential – not necessarily implementing it immediately. This involves assessing financing capacity, cost, market appetite, and timing. From experience, implementation takes between six weeks for a single entity and up to three months for more complex groups. Some funds even engage us between signing and closing to assess eligibility and financing potential in advance. This helps optimise negotiation leverage on the credit structure.
Bogdan: So speed of execution is a key advantage?
Romain: Absolutely. Being supported by an expert saves significant time during implementation. We know the market, the factors, and the technical pitfalls. We also bring benchmarking from similar LBO situations.
Bogdan: Is it complex to manage on a day-to-day basis?
Romain: That is a common perception.
Diane: Yes – but in reality, no.
Romain: We have developed an in-house platform called ARi, designed to manage receivables financing processes. It is used directly by finance teams. On average, clients achieve a 15% increase in available financing and reduce operational processing time by a factor of five.
Bogdan: So ARi is your key differentiator?
Romain: Exactly.
Bogdan: Diane, why Fibus when there are other players in the market?
Diane: For private equity funds, Fibus brings 20 years of experience working with them. In fact, 4 out of 5 of our transactions involve LBO-backed companies. We have the largest dedicated receivables financing team in Europe. We currently work with around 40 private equity funds – not only French but also UK, US and German houses. We opened a German subsidiary last year to support this international footprint.
Bogdan: That’s clearly attractive for funds.
Diane: Yes. Today, around 50% of our activity is international, across 40 countries. Beyond that, our specificity lies in combining three pillars: receivables financing advisory, credit insurance, and digital tools. These three components allow us to unlock 100% of financing potential from day one.
Bogdan: Thank you both.
Diane: Thank you, Bogdan.