To buy a business, you first need to find a good business for sale. And the process requires knowledge of business valuation, financing, tax planning, due diligence, and legal issues. We know how to find and negotiate the acquisition of a business on the best possible terms.
Buy a Business That’s Not For Sale.
Very few people who decide to buy a business are successful. They usually contact business brokers only to be frustrated at the poor quality of listings. If they do find a potential opportunity, they lack the experience to determine a fair price, find financing, negotiate the acquisition, and perform the due diligence they need for their protection.
ACQUISITION SEARCH
A big problem is that most good businesses are never on the market. When you browse broker web sites, you are not aware of all the business owners who would be interested in selling but don’t want to list their busines.
Another consideration is that the same listings you see have been looked at by many other buyers and yet the businesses have not sold. That should tell you something. Either there is a problem with the business or it’s overpriced or both.
The key to finding a good business is to perform a search. We have the resources to identify and contact potential acquisition targets that meet your requirements. From experience, we know that many business owners will entertain discussions of selling their business if approached in the right way at the right time.
BUSINESS VALUATION
When a business owner expresses an interest in a possible sale, you have the benefit of our experience in analyzing the business and determining a fair price. It’s critical that the financial statements are recast to eliminate nonrecurring income and expense and be sure all expenses are adjusted to fair market value. This is necessary to get a true picture of the performance of the business. Otherwise, there is no way to determine a fair price for the business.
We also have access to valuable market data to be sure the price is comparable to similar deals. In fact, you would be amazed at how many business owners and brokers have no idea how to value the business; they just have a price in mind and it’s often unrealistic. The bottom line is our experience in valuing the business and negotiating a price will prove invaluable.
We can also help you get the best possible financing. We have even had success negotiating seller financing, using techniques such as an “earnout” so that what you pay is contingent on the future performance of the business. Finally, we have established relationships with bankers who specialize in financing small business acquisitions.
NEGOTIATING & STRUCTURING THE DEAL
We understand what’s involved and can offer guidance to be sure you are protected. Once again, most business buyers have never bought a business so it’s impossible for them to even know what questions to ask. And unfortunately, many business brokers don’t have the experience and knowledge to provide the representation you need.
Our experience in negotiating and structuring business sales and acquisitions, as well as the ability to work with the attorneys and accountants involved, is an overlooked but critically important part of putting a successful deal together. It’s at this point that many deals fall apart. We have the experience to get deals done.
When price, terms, and other key points are negotiated to your satisfaction, we will prepare a Letter of Intent outlining the proposed transaction. We work with the attorneys and accountants to be sure the transaction is structured to protect you. Our role is to quarterback the process to be sure it concludes in a successful closing.