CONSULTING SERVICES

GLOBAL EXPERIENCE PROVIDES DIRECTION

The Alta Group's consulting capabilities serve companies seeking to launch, expand or improve their equipment leasing and asset finance operations. Alta's international experts provide the business intelligence and objectivity needed to untangle and address the complex issues challenging your business-providing clear-cut solutions that improve profitability.

CAPTIVE AND VENDOR FINANCE PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

The Alta Group delivers a world of opportunity to global manufacturers and lessors with operations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Greater China and Asia Pacific. It serves companies seeking to explore new markets and better penetrate existing ones. The Alta vendor finance team can help manufacturers and lessors size up their competition, re-position their offerings and maximize the value and reach of their sales channels—for results that directly impact the bottom line.

Alta's experts can help with:

• Selecting an equipment finance business model and partner
• Launching, managing and analyzing captive or vendor finance programs
• Aligning business strategies and goals and improving sales performance
• Managing portfolios
• Addressing accounting and tax concerns
• Mitigating risk
• Expanding into international markets

Whether you're seeking to launch a new program or advance existing operations to the next level, The Alta Group's expertise can provide the direction you need to steer your business to success at home or abroad.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Because translating business intuition into a strategy and plan often requires more resources, analysis, experience and objectivity than a company can muster, The Alta Group offers strategic planning services. Its group of international experts - former senior executives, industry association leaders, and entrepreneurs—draw from a broad range of experience to help lessors:

• Develop and evaluate a business strategy and plan
• Improve the parent/captive lessor relationship, to help both meet their business goals and maximize profitability
• Plan for growth and expansion at home or abroad
• Examine profitability models, accounting issues and tax impacts
• Analyze market segments and competition
• Identify ways to improve efficiency and performance in operations

The Alta Group offers both objectivity and inside intelligence on what makes companies succeed or falter. By challenging assumptions, researching the industry, mining their contacts and collective experience and listening to your needs, they can help you successfully align your business strategy and objectives and lay a ground work for continued growth and greater profitability.

BENCHMARKING ANALYSIS

Remaining competitive in a shifting economy requires ongoing evaluation of market segments, products and players. The Alta Group can help you improve your place on the playing field or get into a whole new game. Skilled at research, analysis and networking, Alta can deliver the information you need to adjust your position and gain a competitive advantage in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Greater China and Asia Pacific.

We provide:

• Customized market surveys and benchmarking studies that map the current competitive landscape
• Tailored strategic analysis of what is required for a lessor to enter specific new geographic, equipment or financial services markets
• Operations analysis to gauge organization capabilities and performance

With data and analysis in hand, Alta clients can improve their business models, adjust their strategies, markets and products and out maneuver the competition.

RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Superior credit risk management is a key competitive advantage for all companies, particularly those in the financing business. Robust risk management policies, processes and systems not only help companies avoid unacceptable risks. They also allow businesses to take acceptable risks that their competitors, with less insight, might avoid. The Alta Group leverages its extensive risk management experience to assist companies with:

• Policy and methodology development, including synchronizing credit policy to business objectives
• Credit process development and automation, where appropriate
• Developing capability to price and structure for transaction risk
• Effective collections management, restructuring and workout
• Portfolio analysis and reserve setting
• Customer exposure concentration management
• Country risk management
• Risk organization and personnel
• IT systems development and/or qualification and selection to support risk management

Alta is particularly capable in the areas of: building risk management policies and infrastructure for large global companies, both U.S. and non-U.S. based; managing existing risk in a consistent and efficient manner; and supporting non-domestic market growth prudently.

MARKET ENTRY SERVICES

When expansion plans are in your forecast, The Alta Group can help you check conditions and equip your company for what lies ahead. Whether you're considering expanding into a new geographic region or exploring different equipment categories, The Alta Group can provide decision-support. Alta's international team can:

• Outline market entry requirements
• Forecast results and impacts
• Detail legal, regulatory, resource and cultural requirements
• Offer alternatives and business models to meet your goals

With offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Greater China, and experience in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, The Alta Group is well positioned to serve global companies. Group members have launched and managed a variety of leasing programs and can draw on their professional experience, contacts and extensive resources to help you quantify opportunities, weigh costs and benefits and develop and implement a market entry strategy.

GLOBAL PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

International lease portfolio management is a balancing act, dealing with multiple economies, markets, regulatory environments, cultures, currencies and protocols. The Alta Group's international professionals can help you:

• Audit and evaluate your global portfolios
• Perform country by country risk analysis
• Develop and implement strategies to improve value
• Determine portfolio saleability
• Manage delinquency and improve collections.

The Alta Group's consultants for North America, Latin America, and Europe, the Middle East, Greater China and Asia Pacific can help build and manage a healthy portfolio across various markets, equipment categories and customers—delivering value that goes straight to the bottom line.

CONSUMER FINANCE

Commercial finance and consumer finance are worlds apart in their customer profiles, transaction sizes, operations, credit processing, collections and management. Commercial finance companies and equipment lessors seeking to expand their reach into this adjacent market space need to do so with their eyes wide open to both the opportunities and the pitfalls.

Whether you're looking to test the waters of consumer finance or improve an existing operation, The Alta Group can help you quantify potential profits and risks by:

• Developing a strategic plan
• Evaluating operations and business objectives
• Benchmarking services against industry standards and competitors
• Identifying market entry requirements and prospective experienced partners in each geography
• Performing due diligence on portfolios and businesses
• Assisting with mergers and acquisitions.

Few companies can match Alta's breadth of experience, bridging the worlds of commercial and consumer finance, domestic and international operations. Our seasoned professionals can help you mitigate the risks and reap the rewards offered in the consumer finance sector.

MERGER, ACQUISITION AND FUNDING MANAGEMENT SERVICES

The Alta Group's members—former CEOs, company founders, senior executives, and entrepreneurs—have experienced the complexity of mergers, acquisitions and funding management from the perspective of buyers and sellers. They stand ready to advise clients with respect to buying, selling and funding leasing and equipment finance companies and portfolios.

Alta's international team can:

• Evaluate companies and portfolios
• Recommend changes to enhance the value of portfolios and companies
• Provide sale/purchase structures that create win/win solutions
• Identify, analyze and negotiate with potential sellers or buyers
• Examine alternative exit strategies
• Locate potential funding sources

The Alta Group's experts can craft a solution that meets your short- and long-term goals, providing support to streamline the process.

OPERATIONS REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

Alta professionals harness their industry experience and creativity to help companies strengthen internal operations. Alta experts can:

• Review policies and procedures to recommend improvements in credit, documentation, collections, and other functions
• Examine loans and leases for compliance with policies and procedures
• Evaluate compensation and incentive plans to ensure they generate behavior expected by board members and the CEO
• Analyse charge-offs for any necessary changes in credit underwriting and/or collections practices
• Review residual valuation realization processes and results