UK Retailer appoints AFM Solutions to fund MSA

The requirement:
Our client, one of the UK’s larger voice & data solutions providers, won the tender to supply a nationwide voice-over-IP solution to its quoted UK retail customer with the requirement that the total infrastructure costs (switches, handsets, ADSL and connectivity plus professional fees) be funded over the 7-year life of the contract. The tender involved staged deliveries of the VOIP systems over 3 years across the UK, linking customer’s main stores and regional head office, providing a new telephony solution and offering a nation-wide fabric of varying band-width telephone equipment together with call management, maintenance, training, telecommunications management and other services.

The solution:
Our client, the customer and we agreed terms which amended the supply & support contract such that, once structured and drafted, it could be funded to settle costs related to the project.

The benefit to our Telecoms SP client:
Our client benefited from the financial, legal and commercial resources offered by AFM Solutions to “outsource” the funding and achieve a sale for IFRS. It was also happy to see that the end of term ownership and network management issues were properly and cleanly dealt with.

The benefit to the Customer:
The Customer had a budget problem: a well run and profitable retailer, it needed to conserve its capital budget and manage its ratios (for LSE) and its covenants in banking facilities. Our solution facilitated both these objectives, enabling the customer to pay for the infrastructure over the life of the contract and keeping the asset off-balance sheet.