Is that patent worth buying?
Many of the failed business acquisitions recently have run aground because of issues related to poor due diligence of intellectual property–particularly patents. David Wannetick commented yesterday on how patents create value on the Axial Markets blog. He writes: “Savvy licensing professionals will conduct intensive due diligence to understand the dynamics of their potential [...]
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 [...]
Does your buy-sell agreement with your partners favor the survivors?
Tim Lee (Mercer Capital), who works on huge numbers of agreements, notes that funding mechanisms are often left vague in buy-sell agreements he sees. “Even when there’s insurance, it’s often not specifically claimed by the buy-sell,” he says. “You can’t be too specific about how this will be handled.”
The result is that survivors [...]
Inc.com concludes it’s a tough time to sell your business, citing Business Valuation Resources data
“When it comes to the market for small companies, what’s true in the best of times remains true in one of the worst: Businesses with strong profits and cash flow attract buyers,” reports Darren Dahl in this month’s Inc. magazine,” in its annual feature on business valuation. “And for the rest of us, it’s really, [...]
Selling a business, even when motivated, always takes longer than you think
In his transaction advisory session Monday at the ASA/CICBV Business Valuation Conference, Enrique Brito (The McLean Group) shared his rules of advisory engagement, the most fundamental of which is to set expectations at the engagement letter phase. “I had a client in a notoriously slow-growth industry who was set to sell for 14x EBITDA – [...]
A reminder of “the basics” in the on-going fair value debate
Going Concern’s Adrienne Gonzalez recently asked the question “does anyone care about fair value anymore?” Tired of reading IASB and FASB requests for comments, Gonzalez asked David Larsen (Duff & Phelps and a member of FASB’s Valuation Resource Group) for his current thoughts.
“David believes public opinion dominates the fair value argument and really doesn’t see [...]
New cases may knock out IRS opposition to defined value clauses
First, the U.S. Eight Circuit Court of Appeals decided Estate of Christiansen v. Comm’r (Nov. 2009), approving a formula disclaimer of estate assets that operated much like a defined value clause. Less than three weeks later, the U.S. Tax Court decided Estate of Petter v. Comm’r (T. C. Memo, Dec. 2009), which involved a defined [...]
Don't miss TODAY'S free webinar on comparing your company to industry standards
Detailed industry reports that match your company’s business sector…targeting a geographic area to the smallest, most relevant region…
Take advantage of a free, one-hour webinar on how to mine and apply BizMiner reports to any financial analysis of your company, sponsored by BVResources and presented by Jon Brandow (founder of BizMiner). Brandow will demonstrate how to [...]
Sell a Business Ten Keys to a Successful Exit
Dave Kauppi, of Mid Market Capital, sent us the following short list of 10 key exit strategies for business owners…great reminders always worth repeating. Dave advises:
1. Do not wait too long. Have you ever heard, “I sold my business to early?” Compare that with the number of times you’ve heard somebody say, “I should have [...]
Losing a major customer doesn't have to kill the sale of a business
What happens when a company loses a significant customer just before the deal closes: What’s the impact on the purchase price—or more broadly—on overall value?
“It depends on the characteristic of the customer,” according to Jeff Litvak and William Kennedy in their presentation, “Pitfalls to Avoid When Assessing Damages in M&A Disputes” at the AICPA Business [...]
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