Download Corporate Finance Review 2008/2009 (PDF - 7mb)

Firstly, I can reassure anyone in the slightest way concerned about the suitability of the current economic climate for diamond production that there is ‘pressure’. There’s plenty wherever you care to look. Pressure to remain in business. Pressure to put in place a regulatory and fiscal framework in which economies can recover. Pressure to pay bills and feed families.

In such circumstances it’s easy to lose sight of diamonds. Or even recall that prosperity ever existed. Very few people will be thinking ‘Thank goodness for all this pressure. Where would we be without it.’ But perhaps more of us should be. If history tells us anything it’s that hardship or scarcity of resources does not preclude creativity, innovation or the ability to spot opportunity. Quite the opposite in fact. When was Microsoft more innovative? As a start-up vs. IBM? Or now with Vista? Necessity is the mother of invention and so it is within corporate finance. With readily available cheap debt, there was little incentive to fund more creatively? Without it, the world is suddenly a more exacting place and we all have to raise our games.

Turning the pages on last year’s Corporate Finance Review shows that the present malaise shouldn’t have caught us all off guard. It was called all too well. Back then we spoke of the fragility of confidence and the importance of preparation as a response. There’s little point embroidering the confidence theme but preparation is different. It’s practical. It’s positive. It’s the stuff we can all be doing in the pursuit of diamonds in these extremely tough times.

This year we’ll concentrate on lighting the path out of this downturn. Let’s get ready.

Ewan Grant
Head of Corporate Finance

 Download Corporate Finance Review 2008/2009 (PDF - 7mb)