FCBB M & A Advisors

Senior Associate Advisors offer a personal approach for lower middle market M&A, guiding you through 8 Steps to sell your business.

1. The Initial Consultation: Your FCBB Advisor will listen and work with you to help you define your goals, compile needed documentation, discuss financial modeling and obtain financing letters of interest.
2. Market Price Analysis Valuation: A thorough review of your financial statements will be conducted to provide a Market Price Analysis report for the valuation of your business. We will carefully review our findings with you to determine if the current market value will meet your expectations.
3. Marketing for Results: We’re not interested in listing your business, we’re interested in selling it! Once a determination of value has been discussed and a price set, the creation of marketing materials will immediately begin. Your FCBB Advisor will develop a marketing strategy and confidential business profiles aimed at highlighting your business history, future predictions and your business strengths. Using these materials, we will discretely search for the appropriate buyer, both within our current database and outbound marketing focused on strategic buyers for your business.
4. Creating the Buyer Pool while maintaining confidentiality: Once buyers are identified and they have expressed a substantial interest level based upon general information (without the disclosure of your company name and address), they will be asked to execute a non-disclosure agreement. Once signed, the buyer will be provided with the initial confidential business profile. If their interest continues, the buyer will then be asked to provide proof of funds or source of funds. If the funds appear appropriate the buyer will then be provided with a full confidential business profile package on your business.
5. Buyer & Seller: The buyer has by now received enough information to determine whether a face-to-face meeting or conference call is warranted. If he or she wishes to move forward, meetings and/or conference calls are scheduled. Meetings can either take place at the business location, typically outside of business hours, or at the FCBB Advisor’s office.
6. Fielding Offers: Expressions of interest may be presented in several different forms. Two of the most common are the LOI (Letter of Intent) and the Purchase Agreement. Each have their advantages and disadvantages based upon the number of interested buyers and their respective offering abilities. Keep in mind, there may be several iterations prior to a full acceptance.
7. Offer Acceptance and Due Diligence: Once an offer is accepted, the buyer’s due diligence period will begin. The due diligence process may involve several players, depending on factors such as buyer sophistication and the type of business being sold. These individuals typically include the buyer’s CPA (due diligence consultant) and/or his or her attorney.
8. Due Diligence Release and Closing: Once the due diligence and contingencies have been released, preparations for closing will be made by a neutral third-party entity. This entity is either a closing attorney or an escrow officer, depending on the state your business is located in. At closing, the proceeds (funds) are wired to you as the seller and the ownership documents are wired to the buyer for ownership transition.