Evaluate what types of businesses might be suitable to your resources, background and geographic interests. Most buyers don’t know what they actually want, just what they don’t want. Remember that there is no such thing as a perfect business so pursue one that is an 80% fit and mold it to your desires. Stay open minded and search broadly, narrowing your search as you become more knowledgeable.
Through your own efforts or by engaging a professional advisor to assist you, find an acquisition opportunity that appears to be a possible good fit with your strategy and goals.
Adapt your company profile and management/officer personal resumes to the target industry. Be prepared to document financial capacity to complete the transaction. An individual buyer should have a personal financial statement, good credit report and even a banker prequalification or comfort letter on hand. Be prepared to sign a confidentiality agreement to assure your pursuit is not a threat.
A business that is properly prepared for market will furnish a comprehensive review that will address most of your key questions. Alternately prepare a short list of information you need at the outset. Once received, have the courtesy to provide your initial thoughts within five business days after you have received the information requested.
By scheduling a site visit, you will better come to understand the pulse and operation of the business, and the prospects for working effectively with the current ownership/management as negotiations and later transitions commence.
A buyer will typically not be able to get all or even most additional questions answered before presenting a conditional offer or letter of intent. Save your valuable time, and that of all involved, by trusting the initial information provided and formulating a realistic offer. You will be afforded ample opportunity in the process of due diligence and final negotiations to dig in as deeply as your require.
Schedule due diligence to occur within a reasonable window of time shortly after an offer or LOI is agreed upon. As early in the process as possible, both buyer and seller will want the further assurance of closing that is provided by completing due diligence. The parties should strive together to complete due diligence and draft definitive purchase agreements as efficiently as possible.
To help you enter the partnership with AdvantEdge Advisors as knowledgeable participants, here are the answers to the most frequently asked buyer questions.
Yes, to ensure the buyer’s and the seller’s goals are aligned.
It will show your fundamental ability to make an acquisition of substance, saving your valuable time and the time of all parties involved. We realize that just because you have a few million dollars, doesn’t mean that you are going to spend it all on buying a business or that you will pay more than the business is worth.
Confidentiality is extremely important to AdvantEdge Advisors. Your prospective buyer profile will be securely stored and accessed only by those associates working on your project. This information is proprietary and will not be made available or sold to anyone else.
Businesses are for sale for lots of legitimate reasons besides the owner is getting old and wants to retire. Eight out of ten businesses are for sale simply because the current owner has been doing it for a long time and wishes to pursue other business interests. While there is no such thing as a perfect business, new ownership often reinvigorates and re-energizes the business allowing it to move upward to higher levels than ever before.
Yes, good businesses will command (in the markets) a price well beyond that of tangible asset values. Bad businesses are offered routinely as “asset sales” which means you would be indeed buying only “hard assets” but those assets don’t produce anything of interest. Don’t get too hung up on the goodwill component.
Everyone has different tolerances for risk. Let’s assume that you can buy a business that generates $100K in earnings for $400K cash. Alternately you can take the same $400K and with leverage, buy a business that generates earnings of $400K. Most astute business buyers will choose more performance in exchange for responsible debt leveraging.
Our firm is known for regularly offering the best opportunities in our region. Please provide the following confidential information so that we may share our current acquisition opportunities.
PO Box 16946
Missoula, MT 59808
AdvantEdge Advisors has locations in Spokane, Washington and Missoula, Montana. We serve companies in the Pacific and Intermountain Northwest, representing area clients to buyers and sellers nationwide and internationally. Our core service territory includes the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Cities where we’ve closed transactions and are well-established with both buyers and sellers include (among others): Seattle, Everett and Spokane, Washington; Boise and Couer d’Alene, Idaho; Missoula, Kalispell, Bozeman, Great Falls and Billings, Montana; Williston, Minot and Dickinson, North Dakota.
We are committed to keeping your e-mail address confidential. We do not sell, rent, or lease our contact data or lists to third parties, and we will not provide your personal information to any third party individual, government agency, or company at any time unless compelled to do so by law.
We are committed to keeping your e-mail address confidential. We do not sell, rent, or lease our contact data or lists to third parties, and we will not provide your personal information to any third party individual, government agency, or company at any time unless compelled to do so by law.
