One of the biggest challenges facing large multinational companies remains the buildup of cash and issues around its effective deployment. That’s why treasurers need to preserve flexibility to anticipate and rapidly respond to changing market conditions and strategic opportunities, without losing focus on the efficiency of the balance sheet.
Amid pressure from activists and the ability for anyone, anywhere to mount a takeover bid, members of The NeuGroup’s T30-3 at their last meeting were shown a variety of balance-sheet strategies that can bring efficiency and flexibility to your organization. Strategies included a discussion around activist trends, deal financing and what companies can do to make sure they are not exposing themselves to unnecessary takeover attention.
One of the top takeaways from these discussions was that capital structure is top priority. One T30-3 member summed it up this way: “Capital structure is a mirror to the business; you must be clear with what you need to run your business. Explain it and take control over how your shareholders view you.” Based on trends presented by sponsor MUFG, investors have rewarded dividend-paying firms with higher valuations than non-dividend payers, relative to growth. These trends also point to the increase in M&A activity and an increase in the average total shareholder return (TSR) for companies that engaged in M&A, averaging around 4.5 percent per year, compared with 3.3 percent for those that did not engage in M&A.
Is there an ideal strategy? Boards and management struggle with the challenges of how to allocate capital in the current environment. There is a pull between a thirst for yield, taking advantage of low-cost debt markets, M&A, R&D and CapEx spending. Based on MUFG statistics, S&P 500 Shareholder Distributions for 2012 and 2013 have allocated total distributions to shareholders between $565B and $656B, with share repurchases averaging between 58 percent and 61 percent of these totals respectively.
Activists come knocking
Based on pre-meeting survey statistics, 32 percent of T30-3 members have been the target of an activist, with added statistics from MUFG showing a doubling in the number of activist campaigns targeting $1.0B+ market cap companies every year since 2009. Members agreed that they are taking these statistics seriously and often have an Activist Playbook on the shelf ready to go in the event of a knock on their door. This playbook includes key considerations
When defending the balance sheet, treasurers must consider a broad range of issues and constituents in the context of capital allocation and planning. With many institutional funds moving into activist strategies, there is more pressure than ever for organizations to be sure their capital allocation policies are strong and clearly defined to the shareholders.