Selling a privately owned business is an extremely complex transaction, with many more moving parts than a business owner many times realizes.
The seasoned professionals at Corporate Investment guide their client through this process by their knowledge gained from hundreds of previous transactions.
In the initial meetings with a client, we ask questions designed to find out if there are issues in the business, the management team, customers, or suppliers that will make a successful transaction more difficult.
Since 1984, Corporate Investment has completed over 400 transactions, and over 200 in the past 17 years, since the current ownership has been in place. We like to say – “we have seen a few things, so we know a few things.”
Choosing a business intermediary case study:
Our firm recently represented the owner of a service business that leased an entire floor in a building owned by the county. We had to navigate the transaction through the process of the county commissioner’s approval of the lease assignment to the buyer. This assignment had to be placed on the agenda of the commissioner’s court, and approved by a majority of the commissioners. Without this approval, the business could have never been sold.
Knowledge of the complex issues that must be addressed in an SBA financing is critical to many transactions. For a business to be sold, the buyer must have access to capital, and SBA lenders have specific requirements on leases, management, working capital needs, and other issues that must be addressed for our seller to reach the closing table.
A key issue in any business sale is to put an information package together that explains how the business has achieved its success and understanding each business is critical to that process.
Corporate Investment’s professional staff currently includes professionals who are CPAs and their financial knowledge is extremely helpful to understand complex financial and tax issues.
While tax issues may not be the primary driver in the sale of a business, the tax consequences of the structure of the transaction are key issues to both buyer and seller. We completed the sale of an engineering company where a strategic buyer needed to purchase the stock of the company for business reasons, but wanted the benefits of an asset purchase.
This transaction was completed using IRS section 338(h), where the stock purchase may be treated as an asset purchase by the buyer. However, there are tax consequences to the seller, and negotiating the minimum negative consequences to our client was key to a successful transaction.
We have the right credentials
M&AMI Designation (M&AMI)
The Merger & Acquisition Master Intermediary is the industry's highest designation and is awarded by M&A Source. Certification places a broker in an elite group of approximately 100 M&A professionals. The Merger & Acquisition Master Intermediary designation establishes a broker as a seasoned intermediary professional to the middle market client.
Certified Business Intermediary (CBI)
A Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) is the designation awarded by the International Business Brokers Association to those intermediaries with the proven skills necessary to handle the marketing, negotiations and complex details involved in the sale of a business.
Texas Association of Business Brokers (TABB)
International Business Brokers Association (IBBA)
Association of Business Brokers Nationwide
Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
Association for Corporate Growth
BBB Accredited Business and BBBOnLine Reliability programs
Corporate Investment is a BBB Accredited Business and meets all BBBOnLine Reliability participation and Better Business Bureau membership standards. CI is authorized to display the BBB Accredited Business and BBBOnLine Reliability seals.
