Business Buyers are Valuation Experts


By Dave Kauppi

As it turns out, buyers are astute business valuation analysts. They look for certain features when they assess the desirability of a business acquisition. Private equity groups are particularly rigorous in this process. Without exaggeration, we receive at least five contacts per week from private equity groups describing their buying criteria. The most surprising statement contained in a majority of these solicitations is the statement, "We are pretty much industry agnostic."

They may add in a couple qualifiers like we avoid information technology firms, start-ups and turn-arounds. Below is a typical description:
Example Capital Group seeks to acquire established businesses that have stable, positive cash flows and EBITDA between $2mm and $7mm. We will consider investments that satisfy a majority of the following characteristics:

Financial

Revenues between $10mm and $50 mm
EBITDA between $2mm and $7mm
Operating margins greater than 15%

Management

Owners or senior management willing to transition out of daily operations
Experienced second tier management team willing to remain with the company

Business

Long term growth potential
Large and fragmented market
Recurring revenue business model
History of profitability and cash flow
Medium to low technology

I chuckle when I get these. You and 5,000 other private equity firms are looking for the same thing. It is like saying I am looking for a college quarterback that looks like Peyton Manning. Pretty good chance that he will be successful in his transition to the pros. That is exactly what the buyer is looking for - pretty good chance that this acquisition will be successful once we buy it. Just give me a business that looks like the one above and even I would look good running it.

On the other hand, more often than not we are representing seller clients that do not look nearly this good. Getting buyer feedback on why our client is not an attractive acquisition candidate is often a painful process, but can be quite instructive. Unfortunately it is usually too late to make the needed changes during the current M



 
About the author

Dave Kauppi is the editor of The Exit Strategist Newsletter, a Merger and Acquisition Advisor and Managing Partner of MidMarket Capital, providing business broker services to owners of middle market companies. The firm counsels clients in the areas of M from http://www.ContentHere.com


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