By Perry Campbell, PhD After 6 years of analysis of nearly 700 business sale and recapitalization transactions in the lower middle market and the upper end of Main Street some “timeless trends” have emerged. The deals are all transactions conducted by the members of the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors. Data were submitted by … Continued
By Perry Campbell, PhD Well it happened again. One of my clients closed a deal for sale of their company last month at a price about 75% higher than their accounting firm had estimated before we started the process back in April. I’d first met my client 4 years earlier and provided some advice on … Continued
By Perry Campbell, PhD A Continuing Series on Exit Strategies for Business Owners With apologies to my friends in the appraisal business, does a savvy business buyer really care what a business appraiser says about a company’s fair market value, fair value, investment value or other such theoretical “standards of value”?… Not really. Those things … Continued
Make certain that all employees, customers, vendors and other people you regularly deal with are unaware of your decision to sell the business. Remind all parties that are on a need-to-know basis of their fiduciary responsibilities and the harm that may be done to you and the business if your decision is discovered. This includes: … Continued
For over twenty years, ACT Capital Advisors has been selling business for owners in Washington, Oregon and California. ACT Principals have closed transactions totaling more than $1 Billion. We are not a franchise or owned by a bank. Like your company, we are privately owned and work closely with business owners guiding them through a difficult set … Continued
Often when I meet with a business owner to talk about how we go about selling a business, I get a question like this: “Where do you find buyers?” That’s a legitimate question, since owners want to have reasonable assurance that I know what I’m doing, and if I couldn’t answer that question they really … Continued
I was recently asked by World Tea News to provide insight on the pending IPO of Teavana, since Teavana’s growth had been fueled in part by a partnership with private equity group, Parallel Investment Partners (formerly SKM Growth Investors). This is a classic case of a private equity group providing their growth capital and expertise … Continued
I was interviewed by World Tea News about the state of the merger & acquisition market in light of a transaction, the merger of Seattle’s Barnes & Watson with Maskeliya Tea Exports of Sri Lanka. See the interview and accompanying article about the merger by Editor Dan Bolton here: http://www.worldteanews.com/page.cfm/action=Archive/ArchiveID=12/EntryID=136 We love the branded food … Continued
Mergermarket and Merrill DataSite combined to produce a new survey of the nature of deal-making in the next 12-24 months. The survey was based on interviews with private equity practitioners, corporate executives, legal advisors and financial advisors in 3 regions – North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The overall expectations for deal-making are bullish, … Continued
A rising tide lifts all boats they say, but the little boats aren’t floating quite as high as the bigger boats. I’m talking about the so-called “Main Street” companies vs. the “Middle Market” companies. Two reports came out recently that illustrate the differences. Pratt’s Stats latest quarterly report gave some insight into Main Street businesses, … Continued