Press Releases
10 Facts about Selling Your Business - are you ready?
January 2011
10 Facts about Selling Your Business - are you ready?
For most entrepreneurs the sale of their company is a significant and potentially life changing event. It's also, however, a field in which many CEOs have little or no experience. For anyone looking to achieve the most their exit, here is a list of ICON's top tips for maximising the valuation on the sale of your company.
- 1) Ensure your business processes and records are in good shape well before the transaction process starts. Preparing well before you embark on a sale, can save a lot of time and awkward questions during the due diligence stage.
- 2) Appoint professional advisers who have experience in your specific sector
- 3) Tidy up any potential shareholder issues before commencing the sale process
- 4) Be open, honest and straight with prospects. Selling a business can take anything from six to nine months and you must build trust to ensure a successful outcome
- 5) Confidentiality is vital. Ensure Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) are signed before you release any information
- 6) Make it competitive. Competitive tension creates vital leverage. This can significantly improve initial offers.
- 7) Maximise up-front cash and minimise any earn-out or lock-in periods. Also, push for a simple deal structure and make sure it's well documented in your purchaser's Offer Letter.
- 8) Don't take your eye off the day to day running of the business. Keep managing, selling and delivering. If you don't hit your forecasts, a savvy acquirer will chip away at the deal terms and renegotiate his offer price.
- 9) Don't select your buyer on value alone, if you're going to continue working in the business during an earn-out, make sure the deal structure, synergies and chemistry are right
- 10) Keep the proposed level of integration or interference to a minimum if there's an earn out - negotiation never stops.
ICON advised, CEO Justin Goatcher, Founder of AVISA, on the sale of his business to Luxembourg based acquirer ENEX Group SA. Justin will be sharing the story of his sale with CEOs attending ICON's Exit Masterclass on Wednesday 23 March 2011
