Candor Partners Limited
Independent and unconflicted
Improving outcomes through trading experience
Introduction to Candor Partners
Buybacks are meant to help close valuation gaps and reward shareholders.
Too often, poor execution does the opposite, leaking value through hidden costs, flawed benchmarks, and opaque structured products. Companies and their boards may believe they are buying shares at a discount, yet in practice, inefficiencies and outdated market rules can turn buybacks into silent value destroyers.
Candor Partners brings independent oversight and three decades of global trading experience to ensure share buybacks get implemented as intended: efficient, transparent, and defensible.
Why Buyback Execution Matters
1
Valuation discounts are persistent
UK and European listed companies continue to trade at steep discounts to global peers. Buybacks should help narrow those gaps, but inefficiencies in execution mean the impact is often muted.
2
Regulatory scrutiny is rising
The FCA is reviewing how investment banks execute buybacks and how benchmarks are used. This spotlight could help catalyse a reshape of safe harbour practices, disclosure rules, and board accountability.
3
Structured products mask risks
Many programmes use performance-linked contracts or arithmetic VWAP benchmarks that appear safe but shift risk back onto the company, creating potential exposure if challenged by investors or regulators.
4
Investor and legal pressure is building
Whispered discussions of class actions and activist campaigns are emerging in cases where buyback execution failed to protect shareholder interests. Boards need to be ahead of this trend, not reacting to it.
About Us
At Candor Partners, we help listed companies turn share buybacks into genuine value for shareholders.
Buybacks should help close valuation gaps and return capital efficiently, yet too often, execution costs, flawed benchmarks, and structured products erode that benefit. Boards can be left exposed to scrutiny from regulators, investors, and even courts without realising it.
With three decades of global trading experience, we provide independent advice and oversight to ensure buyback execution strategies are efficient, transparent, and defensible. We combine deep knowledge of market structure, regulation, and execution mechanics to help companies and their boards make, and justify, better execution decisions.
Services
• Fairness Opinions on Buyback Execution
Independent assessment of proposed or ongoing buyback execution strategies, including cost, risk, and benchmark alignment.
• Strategy Design and Implementation Support
Align board objectives with practical execution plans that protect shareholder value and comply with regulatory frameworks.
• In-Flight Programme Review and Course Correction
Identify and fix execution risks in live buybacks where strategies prove misaligned with corporate goals.
• Cost and Risk Transparency
Clarify hidden transaction costs, benchmark distortions, and embedded risks in structured products.
• Post-Trade Evaluation
Analyse completed buybacks to measure performance, governance compliance, and opportunities for improvement.
Collaboration
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From time to time Candor Partners Limited will collaborate with unconnected parties to work on projects
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The collaboration with Prof Joerg Osterrieder on certain research/white papers projects is one such example
