Selling a business and choosing an agent
Discussion
Frimley111R said:
srebbe64 said:
Ask each company you mentioned whether they are FSA compliant/approved and then decide. One of them is.
As far as I know, selling companies does not require FSA compliancy so don't use this to make a decision.srebbe64 said:
Frimley111R said:
srebbe64 said:
Ask each company you mentioned whether they are FSA compliant/approved and then decide. One of them is.
As far as I know, selling companies does not require FSA compliancy so don't use this to make a decision.I will DIY when I come to selling mine. Hopefully 10 years or so away. I will simply speak to around a dozen or so of our main competitors and maybe a few customers and suppliers and offer them the business myself and they will soon work out that it will be better to buy our customers than hope they come to them once we are gone. If no one bites then I don't think I would be able to stand around for years waiting for a buyer so probably just either liquidate everything or perhaps consider putting a manager in and letting it run and seeing what profit we can still make.
rgp77 said:
Frimley111R said:
Yes, I know all of these companies and used to work for BCMS. BCMS are good but you may find their fees a bit high, iirc its about £50k upfront. Typical success fees are around 3% for all companies.
The ex owners of KBS are the current owners of Benchmark. I'd definitely avoid Benchmark, they are focused heavily on sign ups but far less so on successful sales. My knowledge of KBS is a bit out of date but they were improving from a poor start (now under new owners) but DS seems to have more experience of them.
You'll always find people moaning about M&A companies but selling is hard and requires a lot of work and often business owners scupper their own deals.
PM me if you want a couple of better options.
BCMS is £20k upfront, others are circa £10k. Of course BCMS justify this based on a range of big business sales, but they all have their slick marketing. When you consider how unregulated this industry is, and fact that only "advertising agents" exist at this SME level (rather than proper M&A companies that wouldnt even consider us) whatever choice I make feels like it'll be a gamble between wasting the money (as you said they just want the sign ups for their fee - and who wouldnt like to make £10k just for half a days initial meeting) and choosing the agent who will put the work in to make the final fees (circa £50k).The ex owners of KBS are the current owners of Benchmark. I'd definitely avoid Benchmark, they are focused heavily on sign ups but far less so on successful sales. My knowledge of KBS is a bit out of date but they were improving from a poor start (now under new owners) but DS seems to have more experience of them.
You'll always find people moaning about M&A companies but selling is hard and requires a lot of work and often business owners scupper their own deals.
PM me if you want a couple of better options.
Edited by Frimley111R on Thursday 20th April 17:58
How on earth am I supposed to choose?
If it were me, i'd do a number of things:
1. Go and visit them all on site and have a look at capability and capacity
2. Ask to meet the team who will actually be doing the transaction
2. Ask to speak to the ex-clients of that team- and do it one a one to one basis
Whether you spend £1k or £50k upfront is probably irrelevant if it maximises the sale price. Paying a retainer is not a bad idea- you want alignment so that they find the best transaction for you- and that often isn't about the highest price (other factors include structuring of payments, risk of recepit of deferred payments, what you will be required to do post sale, what the buyers plans for the business are, etc etc)
Accountants really aren't the right people to deliver corporate finance and M&A tasks- they don't, typically, have the right resource or skillset- selling a business is about 10% accountancy and 90% sales, marketing and people skills. Accountants aren't well known for the these latter skills! I sold my businesses through my very good accountants- they were rubbish in hindsight. I now work in corporate M&A!
red_slr said:
I will DIY when I come to selling mine. Hopefully 10 years or so away. I will simply speak to around a dozen or so of our main competitors and maybe a few customers and suppliers and offer them the business myself and they will soon work out that it will be better to buy our customers than hope they come to them once we are gone. If no one bites then I don't think I would be able to stand around for years waiting for a buyer so probably just either liquidate everything or perhaps consider putting a manager in and letting it run and seeing what profit we can still make.
Do you realise how many businesses don't sell even with help? It's very hard to sell a business. I've been connected to M&A for 10 years plus and I have seen the challenges. You have no experience selling businesses and yet think you'll just do this and that. You can of course but how much is going to really cost you to DIY? Today I heard about a potential buyer who was 'charged' £5k just to see details of a potential acquisition and paid it only to fin 'back of the fag packet' financials! Whichever side you are on, there is a lot of money to be made and a lot of money to be lost.
red_slr said:
Only one way to find out!
I will have 3 options, close up sell the assets, market it, try and sell myself.
I would try the latter first. Its a fairly unique business and there are only a few of us in our market place so I hope it will be that simple - if not oh well!
Do you have any senior staff?I will have 3 options, close up sell the assets, market it, try and sell myself.
I would try the latter first. Its a fairly unique business and there are only a few of us in our market place so I hope it will be that simple - if not oh well!
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