An investment banking professional with more than three decades of experience, Christopher Riegg has served as a partner at Promontory Point Capital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, since 2004. A financial services leader, Christopher Riegg has provided advisory services to more than 200 business owners and executive managers.
Christopher Riegg’s advisory services typically focus on the exploration of strategic and financial alternatives, including business sales, mergers, and acquisitions (M&A). Business leaders can explore the advantages of several types of M&A transactions, such as horizontal mergers, which occur when two companies in direct market competition with one another merge, and vertical mergers, which involve the joining of a customer and company or a supplier and company. Congeneric mergers (also known as product extension mergers) take place between businesses serving a shared consumer base, but with different products and services, such as a television manufacturer and a cable company.
Other types of mergers include conglomerate mergers. In addition, there are related transactions, such as consolidations, tender offers, and management acquisitions. In some cases, companies benefit from acquiring another firm’s assets, particularly if the latter company is going through bankruptcy proceedings.
As a financial strategist, Christopher Riegg has also helped clients explore investment opportunities through debt refinancing. Businesses saddled with exorbitant debt may be able to find relief through debt refinancing, which involves replacing an existing debt with a new debt defined by more beneficial terms and conditions.
Debt refinancing is often compared to debt restructuring. However, restructuring is typically used as a last-ditch effort to restabilize a debt and avoid financial catastrophe. With the help of financial strategists such as Christopher Riegg, business owners can use debt refinancing for more strategic ends. For example, a company that secures a cheaper loan can use the proceeds to pay off outstanding liabilities associated with another loan. Other advantages range from reduced interest rates to freeing up cash. Debt refinancing also provides opportunities to consolidate multiple loans.
Christopher Riegg is highly knowledgeable about strategic recapitalization initiatives. Put simply, recapitalization is the process of altering a corporation’s capital structure, primarily through modifications to the company’s balance of debt and equity. However, recapitalization strategies are anything but simple, and businesses interested in developing a recapitalization initiative are encouraged to work with experienced investment bankers such as Christopher Riegg.
Some recapitalization strategies include issuing new debt or equity, exchanging different types of capital, and retiring existing debt or equity. Regardless of the initiative, financial services professionals like Christopher Riegg can use recapitalization strategies to refine a business’s capital structure and achieve desired goals and benchmarks.
Christopher Riegg is equally familiar with the strategic arrangement of institutional debt. Institutional debt typically takes the form of unsecured debt for borrowed money from an institution of higher education, although institutional debt can also be acquired from private educational lenders and proprietary institutions. The process of arranging institutional debt is comparable to debt refinancing in that securing stronger institutional arrangements can minimize the cost of debt financing.
Similarly, Christopher Riegg has extensive experience with the arrangement of private equity capital. Private equity investments represent equity interests in privately held corporations. Financial strategists may advise business leaders to use private equity as an alternative investment class with which to invest in companies not listed on public stock exchanges.