My lovable old bastard of a client won’t take my advice!

Dear Aunty B,

I have a client who is a lovable old bastard and I know he reads you (I make him) so please give him some good advice.

He has a largish business, underpinned by several expensive properties that have been unfairly revalued down significantly by his bank, which means he is breaching covenants and has to sell some assets.

He is so furious at the bank he wants to go public on this, but I fear that this will then lead to the industry knowing he is vulnerable and maybe waiting until the company goes under before bidding for the assets.

He tells me I am being ridiculous. Also, he could get out of this tricky position by selling some equity and holding on to the assets which have strong long-term potential, but he insists on holding almost 100%.

My advice is to shut up, hold tight, sell a small stake in the company, pay off some debt to keep the bank happy and get on with it.

Who is right?
East coast

Dear Who is right?

Well, if I didn’t have my helper hat perched jauntily on my head I would tell him to immediately tell the whole story to SmartCompany!

But he can always do that afterwards. Look, tell your lovable old bastard to follow your advice. Now is not the time to get angry at the bank. Tell him that he will have a lovely time taking any revenge he wants when he is out of this situation. But this is the time to pull his head in whether he agrees with the house valuations or not.

You are probably not going to win both arguments so win that one. In my view it is very hard to get lovable old bastards to change on the question of control, so get him to focus on selling the assets and getting on with business, including his bank.

Be smart,
Your Aunty B

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