• 2870 Peachtree Road #504 Atlanta, GA 30305 USA
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Category: Business Broker Newsletter

Advantages of The Montana Group

Advantages of The Montana Group

Advantages of The Montana Group:

Experience You Can Depend On: Your talent is running a business. Ours is selling a business. The Montana Group brings many years of mergers and acquisition experience to each transaction, including in-depth industry knowledge, a sound background in finance and accounting, and especially strong negotiating skills. We take the time to get to know you and your business so that we can more accurately represent its value to prospective buyers. We identify the nuances that enhance its worth and desirability. Whether you lead the competition in your geographic territory or industry, boast outstanding customer retention, or have a masterful management team, we will utilize this to negotiate the highest price for your company’s particular expertise. You will walk away from the sale process confident that you have received an exceptional return on your business investment and yet the buyer will feel secure in the knowledge that he has obtained an outstanding company. Since 1991, we have worked hard to ensure that our clients were glad they chose The Montana Group.

Personal Relationships and Hands-On Involvement: Success comes from hard work, a willingness to roll up your shirtsleeves and do whatever it takes to get the job done. You know. You’ve done it. And you can expect the same from The Montana Group. Business Brokerage isn’t a sideline with us. Per our Founder and President, Emmett Barnes, “It’s what we do – all day, every day”.One-on-one Attention: Our Principals are your partners from contact to closing. They will be in constant communication with both you and the buyer to keep the process on track and to attempt to quell every concern. We work toward an orderly and efficient sale of your business.

The Quiet Approach: You didn’t build your business with a lot of fanfare and you don’t want to sell it that way either. That’s why The Montana Group employs its Quiet Approach to business brokerage. When you select The Montana Group as your business broker, you are engaging the resources of professionals who understand the need for efficiency and confidentiality. Our job is to work quickly and quietly for a successful sale, yet minimize the potential disruption for the business. Your job is to conduct business as usual to ensure the continued success of your company. It’s a proven partnership that works.

No Retainer: By not requiring a retainer, it affirms that we will only accept your business listing if we feel comfortable in our ability to selling a business at a price acceptable to you. Consequently, we are in concert with you.

Business Evaluation: We will gladly provide a complimentary business valuation for those businesses with a minimum of $2 million of annual pretax profits.

Experience: All Partners involved have a minimum of 15+ years of experience selling businesses.

Accounting: After executing our Listing Agreement The Montana Group provides a recast of your business’ Income Statements and Balance Sheets at no charge. This enhances your business valuation by increasing your cash flow income stream; the most influential component to pricing a business.

Our Network of Buyers: Since our inception in 1991, we focused on developing an extensive buyer database which currently has in excess of 500 prospective business buyers, each with a fund of at least $50 million and a drive to invest it. Our goal is to locate potential buyers who have an enthusiasm for acquiring within the industry of our client. The dynamics affecting the appetite for acquisition change constantly so it is essential that we continually expand our reach for the perfect match. Of course, we always get our client’s approval on which we approach to discuss the purchase of their Company. We know that a key to the success of The Montana Group is our comprehensive database of qualified and motivated buyers and the relationships we have built with them.

Thinking of Selling Your Business?

Thinking of selling your business?

Thinking of selling your business?
Complimentary Valuation
No cost … until sold

We are located in Atlanta, GA and have for 25+ years consulted throughout the sale process with owners of manufacturing, distribution, and service businesses. Our uniques approach of “pay us only if we are successful” is very well-received as we are at $400,000,000 and counting.

  • The Montana Group only accepts listings that we are confident will be successful
  • Database of over 500 buyers with at least a $50 million fund
  • Plus industry buyers, when advantageous
  • Confidential & quiet bidding process
  • We locate the preferred buyer that meets our client’s objectives

404 816-7878 x205 / Emmett Barnes, President / embar@montanagroup.com

Business Pricing Issues

Business Pricing Issues

There are many complex formulas in expensive business valuation software that spit out reams of data on the value of a private business. This data is certainly interesting and can be helpful in determining price expectations but this is an inexact science, at best.  While this valuation approach is necessary and helpful when there are estate issues or legal issues such as buy-sell disputes the only answer is that a business is worth what a buyer is willing to pay at the time the business is for sale.
To formulate a ballpark answer to this question the following would be helpful:
  • Who is the buyer?
  • What is the buyer’s motive?
  • What is the buyer’s experience in making acquisitions?
  • What is the buyer’s financial strength?
  • What is the buyer’s concern with their competition for this purchase?
  • The Buyer’s recent acquisition activity in this type of business.
  • Are there many similar companies available to purchase?
  • What are the future growth opportunities of the company?
  • Proprietary products?
  • Barrier to entry?
  • Management post-sale?
  • Is there competition or perceived competition on this acquisition?
Does the business’ representative have a large database of potential acquirers?
Of course, private businesses are not often publicizing their sale price so it’s rare that there is a comparative sale to review. Even if this information were available the question would be does this buyer want to buy another company? Is buyer more or less motivated to buy another company? How about the unsuccessful potential buyers – are they more motivated now to increase their valuation? Comparing a private business’ value to a public company in the same line of business seems a stretch as larger businesses trade at significantly higher multiple and the same can be said for publicly traded ones.
So, the answer…… “you need a good representative to properly present the company to facet of the buyer market that would likely have an interest in the company and wait and see. However, this representative should be able to provide an accurate complimentary valuation range that can be used to determine if the owner is now a seller”, per Emmett Barnes, President of The Montana Group (www.montanagroup.com).
Preparing the Company for Sale

Preparing the Company for Sale

The prudent outlook of the Business Owners:

As is often the case, business owners are totally focused on the constant issues of running their business. However, if they are contemplating the sale of their company it is time well-spent to contemplate their business value in the eyes of the ultimate buyer.

The cash flow that the business generates is KING, as this almost single-handily determines the value. The “almost” comes from other considerations like the balance sheet, the barrier to entry, and growth opportunities … to name a few. Therefore, their cash flow needs boosting, if practical, and this, of course, comes from either increased sales or reduced expenses. The business owner may determine this will require some difficult changes (e.g. termination of an employee, expansion) and prefer that the new owner make the tough decisions. However, it should be understood that the transactional valuation will rarely include savings that have not been reflected on the income statement.

Irreplaceable business owners makes a business much less valuable to a buyer! It is imperative for business owners to understand that if after the sale there is no involvement in the business potential new owners will be concerned with who they will hire to take over. If the buyer is an industry buyer (strategic) there could well be someone within the buyer’s organization who can run the newly acquired company. However, if the buyer is a financial buyer this candidate can be more difficult to locate. Therefore, if the seller has an interest in running the company post-sale or if there is someone within the organization that is either now in-charge or is capable of running the company, then the buyer will more confidently move forward and enhance their valuation.

Growth opportunities that should positively affect the company’s revenue are exciting and powerful. In most cases, the potential buyers are buying based on a value derived from the business’ historical numbers but are using their own projections based on their assumptions for future growth. This growth fuels their optimism about the investment and therefore pushes the value upward. So, expansion opportunities such as additional products, additional sale territory, and additional sale force, as well as, improvement in overhead costs etc result in increased enthusiasm for the potential buyers. Enthusiastic buyers equates to better offers.

Bottom Line: “Business owners should look at their business as they would if they were the buyer so focus on improving the cash flow and be ready to discuss the future growth opportunities”, says Emmett Barnes, President of The Montana Group (www.montanagroup.com).