Transaction Advisory | Restructuring | Litigation Consulting
CLIENTS
MEET THOSE WE HAVE REPRESENTED
Our Clients are entrepreneurs who want to get deals done.
CORPORATE FINANCE & MORTAGE BANKING PROFESSIONALS
Ascent turns a prospect to which you had initially said "no" into a "yes" and your exclusive opportunity. Often a potential borrower is saddled with too much debt, has insufficient cash flow, or provides incomplete information. Ascent advises the borrower with settling existing debts, which gives you the opportunity to achieve a successful completion of a transaction.
BANKS, INVESTORS, & CREDITORS
Ascent can solve your borrower's other financial and operational issues to protect your position. Usually a business will have multiple creditor issues while not understanding its own finances. Ascent will negotiate settlements with other creditors on the borrower's behalf, clean up financial the reports, and identify operational problems. Nonperforming loans can be made performing, or the loss can be minimized.
ATTORNEYS
Ascent sees the entire picture so counsel can stay focused on the important legal considerations. Law firms have retained Ascent to advise their attorneys on negotiation strategy and litigation tactics. Our dispute resolution experience and knowledge of communication and negotiation strategy will help you protect your clients (and your firm).
ACCOUNTANTS & FINANCIAL ADVISORS
Ascent solves your client's financial problems in order to save and enhance your ongoing relationship. Ascent will renegotiate debts and rightsize the liabilities to enable the client to minimize losses and avoid bankruptcy. The company can stay in business, and the individual can get back to building wealth, rather than losing it, in your capable hands.
SPECIAL ASSETS OFFICERS & DISTRESSED DEBT FUNDS
Ascent saves time and expense for the collector by educating and assisting the debtor. Having your borrowers retain Ascent can maximize your recovery and lower the amount of time and expense needed to settle out the case. Ascent will negotiate settlements with other creditors in multiple creditor situations, which will maximize your recovery.
REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS
Ascent makes real estate acquisitions possible by enabling sellers to sell at your price. Very often an acquisition target's high price is due to the property being underwater with debt. We help the seller understand its position, strengths and weaknesses, and negotiate a settlement with the existing lender, primarily by educating the lender (and the seller) on the value of their assets.
PRIVATE EQUITY
Ascent partners with private equity investors to complete acquisitions and turn around failing investments. Oftentimes with the correct strategy, a distressed target company’s debt can be renegotiated to a more favorable level, reducing the acquisition cost and magnifying the return. We have achieved many favorable settlements that involve discounting the target’s existing debt at the time of acquisition.
ACHIEVING
SUCCESS
Don't fear. Prepare.
Do not hide the truth.
NEW RULES
FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED BUSINESSES
A family-owned business, grown from nothing by European immigrants, thrived for many years. As in many family businesses, when the parents retired, the son took over. He managed to keep the business afloat through the 2008 recession. However, in 2010, their bank failed and was taken over by a loss-share bank.
NEW GAME
COLLECTIONS, JUDGMENTS & TAX ISSUES
Two gentlemen bought a large piece of raw land in rural Georgia and made all of their payments out-of-pocket because there was no cash flow. A loss-share bank took over their bank when it failed. When the loan matured, the bank demanded a 10% principal reduction for a 90-day renewal. When they asked the bank what would happen in 90 days, they were told that the bank would consider renewing it, with another principal reduction. The businessmen started doing the math and then called us.
KEEP CALM
BANKRUPTCY REORGANIZATION
A husband and wife owned a successful business and had invested much of their profits into various partnerships investing in real estate. They were also old friends of ours. Three and a half years ago, the husband called. He had guaranteed two projects along with a very wealthy man. The wealthy man was now penniless, and the bank wanted our friend to pay down the loan significantly. After researching his case, we gave him some VERY unusual advice.
AVOIDING LITIGATION
CONTRACT DISPUTES & BUSINESS DIVORCE
An accountant referred a junior partner in a professional service firm to us. He needed advice on parting ways with his partners, and we were hired to facilitate the exit. The case’s course and resolution went nowhere near the way our client expected when we first met. He assumed that because he had the facts on his side and a solid legal case, the other side would be reasonable and settle quickly. These are always a bad assumptions.
TEAM EFFORT
LEGAL & LITIGATION CONSULTING
A lawyer with whom we had worked in the past referred a developer and business owner who had a number of loans. This lawyer had been negotiating with the lender on one of the loans and got the lender to settle with a partial discount. However, after we accomplished a very successful settlement with another client of his, he recommended that client hire us to negotiate an even better settlement.
GOVERNMENT
REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT DISPUTES
A banker called us about one of his borrowers, who owed his bank several million dollars. The borrower had a successful operating company with multiple locations over a large territory. He had done well and even made it through the great recession in one piece. His business was usually steady and predictable flow of income, but when his loans started maturing, he realized that in reality, the whole operation was on the verge of collapse.
NEW ECONOMY
In the current economy, business leaders are walking a tightrope. Difficult decisions must be made based on limited information.
TESTIMONIALS
"Our loan came due, we couldn’t pay or refinance, and before we knew it our lender filed a lawsuit. We mapped out a strategy and stuck to it, and exercised the utmost discretion in protecting our privacy. They advised our attorneys on tactics and achieved the result we needed to settle a contentious dispute. Throughout the entire process, they never wavered in their belief that if we patiently stuck with the process, the lender would agree to a realistic settlement that would put the problem behind us."
CEO & OWNER / COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY /
MACON, GEORGIA
"When our bank sued us on a loan guarantee of nearly $10M, we were guided safely through the process and negotiated a settlement that eliminated millions of dollars of personal liability. Their experience was invaluable to our attorneys and financial advisors, and we particularly appreciated their close attention to our personal situation. They were always confident of a successful outcome, even when we had our doubts.
CEO & OWNER / REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE & INVESTMENT COMPANY /
ATLANTA, GA