I am thinking about selling my business. How do I get to the Letter of Intent stage and start the process?
When selling your business, reaching the letter of intent (LOI) stage is a great indicator of success. But, the process is far from over. There are many steps that still lay ahead that can derail or ruin the transaction. Below are 7 setbacks to be aware of between the LOI and the closing of the transaction:
Most importantly, you need a professional Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor. He or she will help find a wide variety of buyers and help negotiate the transaction from start to finish. Shop around for a professional that will not just put their hand in your pocket in advance of any process. Professionals work on a commission basis. Many of the amateurs have double the commission rate and take advantage of their clients. Get some advice and check references before you get started.
1. First, get the letter of intent done well, and read all the legal details.
The first step to moving from letter of intent to closing is to make sure that everyone understands all elements of the letter of intent, and that the letter of intent has a reasonable amount of detail. Misunderstandings and miscommunications will blow-up a deal very quickly if the parties have different interpretations of the terms.
In the midst of negotiation, it may be tempting to leave a detail for later, or hope the other party didn’t notice some important detail, or leave an open item to later. There is no one way to do things, but if you truly want the deal to happen, I have had much more success taking the extra time to explain a term or go over something again to make sure that everyone is on the same page. The LOI sets the pace for the rest of the process, so it is important to do it well.
2. Keep the business on budget and performing well.
Ensuring that the business remains on track is critical during the process from LOI to closing. Although it may take a great deal of focus to close the deal, keeping the business running according to plan is necessary for the transaction. This is the most important, of many things, to balance during the closing process. Among private equity buyers, you will hear wisdom shared from investor to investor with things such as, “95% of all bad deals were off budget during the closing process.”The buyer will be watching every twitch of the business with extreme scrutiny.To a buyer, there is nothing more comforting than seeing the financial results comes in as expected. Even better for everyone is having the financial results come in ahead of budget. Yes, this is true even when you are the seller wondering if you could have gotten more for your business because it makes the buyer want to close the transaction even more and maybe some small horse trade will go your way in the end (and, there is always one more horse trade).
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