- Expertise in Determining a Fair Market Value
- Full Appraisal Services
- Prepare Financial Comparison and Cash Flow
- Prepare Offering Memorandum
Marketing of Your Business
Connect Buyers & Sellers
- Attend Meetings between Buyer and Seller
- Negotiate Offers between Buyer and Seller
- Help with Allocation of Purchase Price
- Keeping the Deal Together
Accounting & Tax Advice
Financing
Personalized Services for You
Confidentiality
Free Business Appraisal
Expertise in Determining a Fair Market Value
We offer a free business appraisal regardless of whether you decide to do business with us. We have access to a proprietary database of “sold” businesses throughout the United States. This database tells us what other similar size businesses are selling for. We use this database along with various other sources to help determine what your company’s Fair Market Value (FMV) is and a fair offering price for your business.
UBBA offers full appraisal services. Though our free financial assessments are sufficient to sell your practice, there are other scenarios in which a comprehensive, stand-alone appraisal are necessary. These include divorce, business planning, estate planning, retirement planning, help in determining exit strategy, partner “buy out”, etc.
Prepare Financial Comparison and Cash Flow
With the data that you provide from your financial statements and tax returns, we put together a three-year income statement comparison of your practice along with a cash flow statement that becomes part of the Offering Memorandum for your business. We also use this to help determine your FMV.
With the information you provide about your business, we put together an Offering Memorandum which is a document that tells a prospective buyer some particular information about your business that will be helpful to him in determining whether to buy your business. Information is included such as how long in business, how long at the current location, number of employees, lease particulars, assets included in the sale, number of active patients, types of services provided, days and hours of operation, 3-year comparative financial statement, cash flow statement, and so on. This information, however, is only provided to qualified buyers who have signed a Confidentiality Agreement.
Marketing of Your Business
We use a comprehensive approach to market your business. We start with our list of potential buyers. We sort the database to locate buyers who wish to buy in that particular location. We also utilize various web sites and publications with general information regarding our listings. In addition, we promote your listing in our regular newsletter that is sent out via our extensive database of clients in the regions where we are active. We will also directly market either with mail or phone calls to businessmen in the same industry within a certain radius of your business to help find a synergistic buyer.
Attempt to Create a Bidding Process
We strive to get the forces of supply and demand into action by trying to find multiple potential buyers for your business. In the ideal situation, this creates a bidding process that will drive up the price of the business being offered for sale.
Connect Buyers & Sellers
Attend Meetings between Buyer and Seller
We attend every meeting between the potential buyer and seller. This is important as there is information that should be exchanged between the potential buyer and seller at these meetings such as how the business is operated. The initial meetings between buyers and the seller are not meant to discuss or negotiate the price of the business. We are very skilled at conducting these meetings and making sure they are productive for both the prospective buyer and seller.
Negotiate Offers Between Buyer and Seller
This is a very delicate matter and we are very experienced in dealing with a buyer that has made an offer. It is a very sensitive issue when you try to stretch the buyer’s offer as high as possible without losing the sale. The buyer needs to feel that he is getting a fair deal in the process and we are sensitive to the needs of all parties in these types of negotiations.
Help with Allocation of Purchase Price
The Purchase Agreement will allocate the purchase price to fixed assets, goodwill, non-compete agreement, and a consulting agreement. There are advantages and disadvantages to how the purchase price is allocated to each category depending on whether you are the buyer or the seller and your specific tax posture. We will help advise you in conjunction with your accountant on how to best allocate these funds.
Sometimes, negotiations get tense and potential is there for the deal to fall apart. We are particularly adept at keeping deals together by working through sticky issues with the buyer, the seller, the accountants, and attorneys.
Accounting and Tax Advice
Accounting and Tax Advice for Our Clients
We have a network of service providers that we can recommend should you need any accounting or tax advice related to this transaction. These providers have been screened to ensure they are among the best in their field at what they do.
We review each and every version of the Purchase Agreement along the way. We offer our advice to you and your attorney about what should and should not be included in these contracts. We also are involved in helping iron out any sticky issues between the parties that may arise in negotiating this agreement.
Financing
You should be able to receive the full amount of the purchase price at closing. Should the buyer need financing we offer financing through several lenders that we work with. These lenders can generally lend adequate financing for the buyer’s needs. The buyer often may not need any money out of pocket. You (seller) should not have to finance any portion of the transaction unless that is something you prefer to do.
Financing your Business Purchase
We have several sources of financing that we recommend for our buyers. Depending on the type of business, we may be able to help the buyer procure 100% financing. Solid credit, adequate cash flow from the business to be acquired and buyer experience are the primary factors the lenders look for when making a loan decision. The lenders we use can generally have an answer back to the buyer regarding the loan within a weeks time of application.
Personalized Services For You
Perhaps what is most important is the personalized services that we offer. Often brokers will take as many listings as possible with a “hands-off approach”, hoping some of their listings sell. We are selective in the practices or businesses that we represent. We do not take on more than we can handle. Therefore, we are able to remain intimately involved with our clients throughout the entire process from listing to closing and provide you with the personalized service you deserve.
Available Weekends, Evenings via Mobile Phone
Questions, issues, negotiations, emails and phone calls do not always fit neatly into an 8-hour day, Monday thru Friday. We are available to our clients via email and cell phones at any time.
Confidentiality
Last and most importantly, UBBA handles inquiries and listings with the highest level of confidentiality. We understand that the sale of your business is extremely confidential. It is imperative that employees, customers, vendors, banks, landlords, etc are not aware of an impending sale until you are ready to notify them of the sale. Therefore, unless told otherwise, our contact with the seller is done strictly in person or via the mobile or home phone. All potential buyers must sign a confidentiality agreement before they receive confidential information. This agreement states that they are aware of the extremely confidential nature of the information they have been provided and that this information may only be disclosed to their accountant or attorney while analyzing this opportunity.