Navigating the World of M&A: Where does your Business fit?
You’re ready to sell your business – OK, now what?
It’s time to sell your business. You come to the conclusion that the timing is right – your company is well-positioned, and personally you have decided to move on to your next venture or stage of life. OK, now what? Where do you turn? Who do you contact?
You are entering the world of mergers and acquisitions. It has a certain mystery about it, doesn’t it? It is really all about the process of bringing a selling company together with a buyer to enter a mutually beneficial relationship. It is a simple concept with a sometimes overwhelming process including pricing, negotiations, accounting procedures, taxes, legal contracts and much more. For most sellers, selling their company is the largest transaction of their lifetime – it is difficult not to get emotionally involved. Keep in mind that you are selling your business and not “your baby”. This transaction should be viewed with the same professionalism and objectivity that you would have in any of your other business transactions.
This is where the benefits of a professional intermediary come in. The M&A intermediaries can help keep the transaction professional, on track, and serve your best interests. Intermediaries like Viking Mergers & Acquisitions can help with marketing, negotiating, structuring and closing along with managing your team of expert advisors in their respective fields. After all, you still have a business to run and manage.
But what type of intermediary do you need? M&A intermediaries generally fall into two categories: business brokers or investment bankers. Where your business fits is driven largely by size. Business brokers mostly handle transactions where overall value is less than $2 million. These businesses will be sold almost exclusively to another individual buyer. Typical business brokers tend to list with as many clients as possible to see what sells, often with little analysis or focus. Investment bankers, particularly in larger Wall Street firms, will focus on transactions over $50 million or even $100 million in enterprise value. These transactions are often more complicated in nature and will be sold to strategic buyers or private equity groups in various structures.
Viking Mergers & Acquisitions is able to bridge the gap between the small market business broker and the typical middle market investment banking firm. Many companies need the sophistication of an investment bank yet won’t meet the size criteria. Viking Mergers & Acquisitions offers that high level M&A service to transactions ranging over $1 million and up. We also span across all buyer pools: high net worth individuals, strategic buyers and the thousands of private equity groups focused on smaller middle market companies. If you fall in this middle range, then you will be well served by the professionals at Viking Mergers & Acquisitions. Let us prepare a “ready to sell” plan and create an optimal exit strategy for your business today.