Need to find EBITDA multiples for your business?
The Invested Life, MSNBC’s website for small business owners (and those who want to start a business, recommends Pratt’s Stats as the best place to start in their new post “How to Sell a Business.” Pratt’s Stats is a database created by Business Valuation Resources that relies on actual private company financial statements and deal [...]
Report from ACG: Transaction Costs And Risks Rise; Buyers Change
BV.com has attended three of the major “intermediary” meetings in the last several months, beginning with the IBBA and AM&AA Annual Meetings. But, the dean of the group is InterGrowth, held last month in San Diego. This is the largest gathering of members and leaders of the Association of Corporate Growth (ACG).
Different market segments, different [...]
The true value of your business may not lie in the financials
We’ve regularly emphasized that owners and deal-makers can underestimate the value of intangibles. This error makes sense…many intangibles remain invisible on the balance sheets of small businesses.
“Let’s see. Right here on the balance sheet are all of your assets? Book value would be …” You may have had a conversation like this recently, and [...]
Which law firm did the most private market deals in 2010?
Skadden Arps wins–or so reports the Mergermarket Group. They’ve also issued a 2010 summary that joins the ranks of very optimistic analyses of the return of the merger and acquisition marketplace.
Highlights of their data include:
Global M&A up 25% from 2009
Strongest year for private equity buyouts since 2007
Cross-border deal flow up 73% from 2009
Most active year [...]
Further evidence that “strategic acquisitions” are leading M&A activity out of the slump
“M&A transaction activity saw significant improvement in 2010. A recovery in business valuations leading to more motivated sellers, an easing in the financial credit markets and the global economic recovery,” reports George Steinbarger (PCE Investment Bankers) in “State of the M&A Markets Year End 2010.” PCE’s report, based on data from Capital IQ, indicates “valuation multiples [...]
Alfred King’s “Picasso” analysis admired in popular accounting blog
In a fine example of the collegiality found in blogging, Thomas I. Selling, PhD, CPA admired Alfred King (Marshall & Stevens) yesterday in an article “Entry Price vs. Exit Price: One (Really Smart) Appraiser’s Point of View.” King had responded to one of Selling’s posts about FASB, to which Selling responded: “I have learned a [...]
You’ll get a better price from ’strategic’ buyers now than you will from ‘financial’ buyers
Strategic buyers paid record premiums of 40.9% in 2009, as reported by BVR financial analysts working with Mergerstat®/BVR Control Premium Study™ data. After acquisitions practically grinded to a halt during the deep U.S. economic drop, deal activity began picking up. Capable strategic buyers capitalized on opportunities—and were willing to pay a premium for them. Financial buyers, [...]
BV.com recommended by New York Times small business center
Owners looking to sell can benchmark their financial thinking by using Pratt’s Stats and other databases available from BV.com–as reported in the New York Times.
Selling your company to management sounds like a good idea, but…
by Dave Kauppi, CBI, principal at MidMarket Capital Advisors, LLC
Many owners think that selling their company to their management team is a great way to reward loyal employees for years of service. This article discusses difficulties the owner’s exit planning team will have implementing a management buy-out and puts forth an alternative approach which accomplishes [...]
Dreaming of an IPO? Perhaps “plan B” might be a better idea?
David Weild and Edward Kim (both from Grant Thornton) map the demise of the IPO market in their newly updated study “Market Structure is Causing the IPO Crisis.” Among their current findings:
The IPO crisis has worsened. “The first six months of 2009 represents the worst IPO market in 40 years.” During that time, only 12 companies [...]
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