The M&A world is rife with sloppy processes and empty promises – making it a tough call to filter good advisors from bad when building your M&A support team. Here are some pointers on what to find out and what not to ask. You’ve decided to explore options for stepping back from your business. Whether …
Few business owners get everything right first time they sell a company. Common mistakes include setting unrealistic expectations around price or timescale, misjudging market appetite, or going it alone without advisors to provide professional support. Here’s our take on the most common pitfalls. I’ll sell my business on my own Who would learn to drive …
Owner-directors often play a dual role of both the company’s greatest asset and its weakest link. The decision to sell shares brings these into sharp focus. Here’s our advice on how to reduce business owner dependency. “I built this business. No one else knows it, lives it or loves it like I do.” Does that …
While most of us don’t dwell too long on the conflicting emotions of selling a business, if left unchecked, those feelings can bubble up in the most surprising ways. It’s extraordinary. When it comes to selling a business that you’ve sweated blood to create, most people only talk about the money. Yes, money is important. …
Business sale timescales vary significantly depending on the complexity of the company and the strength of market interest. Here’s what you can expect from a well-run acquisition process. You can probably guess the answer – selling a business takes as long as it takes. At one extreme, a business sale process can complete in a …
Choosing your preferred business exit route early on clarifies the road ahead. Here we discuss the pros and cons of the most common types of company acquisition. Ideally, a business run from the outset with some sort of exit in mind is good practice – even if you never intend to sell. If your organisation, …
Knowing when to sell your business helps you get your ducks in a row and take everyone with you on the same journey when the time comes. You’re considering a sale. It’s exciting. Worrying. Challenging. It throws up a lot of questions, including: ‘What?’ ‘Why?’ ‘How?’ ‘To whom?’ And ‘When?’ Whatever business you’re in, …
The decision to sell your business is a big call – and can seem drastic and final, so outlining a vision of how and when to exit will help you with later decisions like choosing the right advisor and pre-sale preparations. First, start by deciding how much you want to sell to clarify your …
Choosing a professional advisor to help you sell your business isn’t as easy as it first looks. Accreditations, awards, sector experience, or fees don’t really indicate whether you will get the sale of your business over the line. So what does matter? Here’s what to look for when meeting contenders Hiring any advisor is …
When an acquisition offer turns up out of the blue, knowing what to do is a huge call – and business owners need to get organised fast. Read our quick guide to understand the opportunities and pitfalls of discussing your business exit with others. An unexpected acquisition offer prompts a mix of emotional responses from …
Be aware of anyone who doesn’t start by explaining the risks and pitfalls, such as accepting large earn-outs without exploring the inherent risk. We can all get carried away with a high Enterprise value. The devil is in the detail.
Engagement by senior management is crucial for integration to be a success. The team needs to be part of the journey if you as a shareholder are expecting to walk away on day one #managment #social #startups
Whether it’s called people skills, empathy, or self-awareness, emotional intelligence is now firmly established as a critical component of business success. Hard to measure but easy to recognise, a team with high EQ is better equipped for the emotional rollercoaster of a business sale. For most founders and entrepreneurs, selling a business is an intensely …
You have spent years building your business. You have probably risked everything along the way. So when you want to move on, you need someone who can do more than complete the deal. You need someone who understands what’s at stake, can build a trusted and aligned working relationship with all the parties involved, and …
Mark Sapsford, co-founder, Capeq The OK Corral looks great on film, but few of us want to encounter it in matters of business. Yet even today, Mergers and Acquisitions can feel like shootouts without rules – or even functioning revolvers. Lawyers offer covering fire, but usually late in the day, when the sun is in …
YOU’RE THINKING OF SELLING (OR EXITING) YOUR BUSINESS Great. ‘Can I sell my business?’ – and ‘How do I sell my business?’ are two of our favourite questions – because we have the answers. Making company sales work smoothly, effectively, and profitably is the backbone of what we do. We recognise that selling and handing …
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Delivering the sale (leaving no stone unturned) So how do we go about shaping your business for sale? There is no single model: we always create a bespoke approach, tailored to your specific needs, which addresses: Timing: we give you market-based fact driven advice on when to approach the market. This combines new research with …
Ask any shareholder who has successfully sold their business, or acquired another, to state the most important aspects of the transaction. Invariably they will mention trust: trust in their advisors and trust in the counterparty. Without this high level of trust, it is almost impossible to complete a transaction. Trust is the bedrock of relationships. …
CapEQ Asides Thoughts on buying and selling businesses, from CapEQ WHAT AM I SELLING? If you’re thinking of selling your business or some of its assets, you might be wondering what you’re putting on the table. Here’s an overview … The vast majority of business sales in the UK are share sales. The purchaser buys …
The Add-Back is Only as Good as Its Justification we take time to make sure we get the balance right. Especially during these unprecedented times For buyers and lenders to accept these “add-backs” into their valuation and underwriting methodology, add-backs must be reasonable, well-documented, and defensible. We recommend that business owners track the impact that …
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Preparation of finding the right buyer With a multitude of options in between, it’s our experience that there is a “sweet spot” on this spectrum for your unique deal, and making the right decisions upfront will greatly affect your final outcome. Finding that sweet spot requires a careful and objective evaluation of your opportunity as …
When do I sell my company? Like every owner, you will one day exit your business — voluntarily or involuntarily. On that day, you will want to attain certain business and personal objectives: the first (and usually prerequisite to all others) is financial security. Believe it or not, most owners do absolutely nothing to consciously …
Is your business too small to sell? “My business isn’t worth enough to meet my financial needs – when it is I’ll think about leaving.” This is a common and relatively reasonable assumption: why spend time, effort and money to plan to leave your business when you cannot do so today? Why not wait until …
I Will Be Required to Work for a New Owner for Years. If one of an owner’s exit objectives is to leave the business as soon as possible, he or she needs to direct the exit planning advisor to make that a prerequisite of any sale. Some buyers require sellers to stay on after the …
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Key Questions to Determine Scope of a sale Process (Posted 07/01/2021) We offer you some of the key questions that can be used to begin to ascertain how broad or how narrow your sale process should be: Is there a small number of buyers who would reasonably have interest and have the financial wherewithal to …
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Who really needs a succession plan? “I don’t need to plan. When I am ready, a buyer will find me.” One of the hard lessons of the Recession of 2008–2011 and in 2020 is that the timing of an exit depends on a vibrant economy with active buyers, a company with strong cash flow, and …
This Business Is My Life! I Can’t Imagine My Life Without It! We all know business owners whose belly fires have gone cold and whose animating goals have grown stale. Nonetheless, they hang on to their businesses because they cannot imagine life without going to work. We also know owners who remain energized and involved …
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From cutting global emissions, sparking a baby boom, killing off flu, or government scientists becoming household names – the Covid pandemic has had some unintended consequences. But for most business owners, the consequences are darker: with rapidly changing business models, political uncertainty, and huge financial pressure causing stressful days and sleepless nights. The evidence is …
Always remember that a business is bought on the assumption of its economic benefit to its owner. The more stable the financial future — as well as other factors like technological changes or environmental regulations — can have an effect on a buyer’s emotions. This relates to how long the buyer is willing to risk …
It is surprising how many business owners think they can save on a deal team. While it may seem tempting to save the fees, it has been shown that having a trusted advisor like CapEQ on your transaction more than pays for itself, and generates an average of 20% more transaction value. Additionally, having the …
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17 February 2021 Have you been approached to buy your company? Have you been approached to buy your company? If you have here are some points to be considered. You Have to Take Buyer Paper Some buyers will make it seem like everyone takes Buyer paper as part of the purchase price. We often recommend …
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