Selling Your Business

As baby boomers begin to hit retirement age, many who are business owners are ready to sell.  It’s created a market that has many businesses for sale.   At the same time, concerns about the economy had made it tough to get financing for many potential deals. Seller financing is one option that could be the solution to get many deals done.   Seller financing involves a seller helping to finance the sale of the business by taking back a second note on the business.  It differs from a traditional Small Business Administration (SBA) loan because the seller essentially extends credit to … Read more

Probably the hardest decision is deciding when the time is right to sell. Obviously, that is a deeply personal decision, but we can offer some insights. There is no doubt that, from a financial perspective, the best time to sell your business is when there is an active market of buyers for businesses like yours and when your business is attractive to the marketplace. On the other hand, business owners are more likely to consider selling when other factors influence them – personal strains, capital investment requirements or negative trends within the business or industry. In addition, it is not … Read more

Your attorney and your CPA will usually be among your key advisors as you go through the sales process. Having advisors like these who know your business and your personal situation will help the process go smoothly. It is a good idea to schedule a meeting periodically with your advisors to discuss the current state of your business and your plans. They may have suggestions that will smooth the process and help produce a good result for you, especially considering your personal tax situation. Depending on your circumstances, a business broker or other merger and acquisition professional may well be … Read more

An offer to purchase a business will almost always be conditioned on the satisfactory results of a due diligence investigation. The scope of the due diligence investigation will be impacted by the structure of the transaction and the sophistication of the buyer. An example of why the scope of due diligence will vary is if a buyer will not be occupying the physical facilities of the seller or taking on the seller’s employees, the buyer’s due diligence in these areas MAY be more limited. The buyer will usually provide a checklist of documents that he or she will expect to … Read more