How many reasons are there to buy, sell, or merge a business? What’s the business worth? Why? To whom? It’s always difficult to watch the process of someone trying to decide if selling a business is the right or wrong course of action. Should we be doing it now, doing it later, or even doing it at all? The issues of when and how to sell evoke a major emotional response. It is impossible to jump to the end result without understanding at depth whether the business has served its purpose or its time for a sale. Selling a business should represent a chapter in your book; it shouldn’t be the book. Sellers remorse, where the seller creates unintended obstacles that hinder or block the successful sale of their business, is commonplace because an informed decision to sell was never made. Businesses aren’t like houses; they are extremely unique because of the owners’ personality. Businesses need to be understood based on tangible and intangible values.
A business’ competition can be the worst buyer for a business, so who is the best buyer? Positioning a business for sale isn’t just about preparing the business externally, but preparing the business internally as well. It’s about getting it ready to show. Selling is about preparing for the decision to sell, determining value, strategy and structure, timing, and environment, and doing this all under the cloak of confidentiality and privacy.
Heritage & York is tightly linked to the financial markets and maintains relationships with lenders, investors, and strategic intermediaries that facilitate the typically highly confidential transition of ownership from a business. Selling a business requires a team effort to achieve the best outcome. With so many possible variables the individual tax strategies, legal strategies, and financial strategies focused on wealth, planning can have a major positive impact on deal structure, price, and terms.