Lafleur Trading Company

Lafleur Trading Company

Sarah Glowatz, Seth Allen

Fin/370

July 1, 2010

Jason Paulateer

Lafleur Trading Company

Lafleur Trading Company was started in 1975 to supply the world with the finest foods available. With trading partners across the world the goal of the company is to provide the highest quality products. Lately Lafleur Trading Company has been discussing whether they need to go public with an initial public offering (IPO), acquire another company in the same industry, or merge with another organization. Many options exist for the Lafleur Trading Company; throughout this discussion the likely option will become more evident.

Strengths exist for each option whether it be to go public, buy another company, or to merge. When a firm decides to go public with an IPO, it will give them new capital, gain liquidity, and gain future access to the market (Mayo, 2007). Having a company publicly traded will also help benefit the business as publicly traded companies are better known than private companies (Mayo, 2007). By acquiring a new company the Lafleur Trading Company would have a company already situated with the groundwork already started. Acquiring a new company would make financing easier to come by, there is already a market for the product, the company will already have established customers, and the company will already have employees who know what they need to do for the company (Business Link, 2010). If the Lafleur Trading Company were to merge with another company the merger would not require any cash or may be tax free for the buyer and the seller. This allows shareholders to own a smaller piece of the company while allowing the buyer to avoid the costly and time-consuming aspects or the purchase, but minority stockholders have to vote in the decision to acquire the other company (Wikipedia 2010). Possesing different options for an IPO, and...