In February’s last digest we discuss how documentation plays a role in succession planning, how important your executive team can be to your business sale, how to keep your deal on track to close, and more. Click on the headlines to read the full pieces. [Read more…]
M&A Weekly Digest – September 23rd, 2011
The M&A Weekly Digest features the next step–finding your buyers–in positioning your company to be buyer ready in the selling process; newly released data that indicates investors are interested in private equity firms with a middle-market specialty; and a pair of recently announced acquisitions that business owners can learn from. [Read more…]
M&A Weekly Digest – August 19th, 2011
The Private Business Owner is starting a new feature that provides M&A news and tips each week. Jumping right into this week’s highlights, there is good news for all of North America, as the U.S. re-shoring initiative has gained more traction and Canadian M&A activity was up the second quarter of this year. M&A activity continues to recover nicely and the last week of July had 11 IPOs, making it one of the busiest weeks in 2011.
For those interested in learning more about the process of selling a business, you can learn about the valuation, the next step after creating a sustainable business and deciding to sell it. [Read more…]
Becoming Buyer Ready and Selling Your Company: Part II – Knowing What Buyers Value
A few weeks ago, we discussed the first step in building a buyer ready business. In the piece, we defined the first step as the challenging decision to actually exit your company. In hindsight the title was a bit misleading because the first step in building a buyer ready business begins literally when you open the doors of your business. And it is refined as you run your business over the years by clearly understanding what buyers will find unique and attractive about your company.
Management guru Peter Drucker once said:
“The buyer rarely buys what the seller thinks he’s selling.”
This statement implies that the features you find attractive about your company may not ultimately be the same features a buyer finds important. So what are buyers looking for? What makes a company “buyer ready” from an acquirer’s point of view? In general, there are a number of common items that buyers look for when examining acquisition targets. [Read more…]
Becoming Buyer Ready and Selling Your Company: Part I – Deciding To Do It
One of the most important decisions you will make as the owner of a middle-market business is deciding upon the timing of your eventual exit. Experts will tell you that you should start planning for your exit from the business the day you open your doors. Although that may seem logical, the reality is that you will spend the next 20 to 30 years of your life so busy running it that developing plans to exit and becoming buyer ready would be a luxury!
However, ultimately, you will need to decide what to do with your company and the rest of your life.
Having worked with middle-market business owners for almost 25 years, I am fully aware of how hard this decision is. It is probably the most emotional decision that many of you will ever make. Your identity (not to mention your entire net worth) is tied up in your company. The “baby” you created decades ago is now a fully operational, profitable entity with long-term growth opportunities in front of it. However, given your age, health, and retirement desires, you may not be the “best” person to take the business to the next level. Coming to that realization is tough but necessary. [Read more…]