In my first experience with selling a business, I scaled up from a single pizza delivery shop to 84 stores, only to realize I had undersold the business. Here's what I learned during my first M&A deal and why you shouldn’t rush in without some help.
Selling your business is likely to involve a major mismatch in terms of the scale and size of the likely buyer. Getting in the ring with them by yourself and without a clear strategy, might not work out so well for you.
Selling a business isn't like selling a house. A business is a dynamic asset—customers, management, staff, stock, IP, and goodwill all contribute. The key is to always run your business professionally and profitably, focusing on value creation and risk mitigation. So why wait until you’re ready to sell? Here are my top 10 tips to prepare your business before you sell.
Publicising your intention to sell makes your business vulnerable to perceptions of instability among staff, competitors, clients, and suppliers. Small to medium-sized companies are delicately balanced, and the last thing an owner needs is staff hearing rumours that the business is for sale.
We are often asked at Oasis Partners, when there is market volatility or other geopolitical uncertainties, whether it’s still a good time to sell a business. The reality is that we are selling most of our clients to much larger corporate acquirers where there are strong synergies and reasons to do a deal.
At Oasis Partners we are seeing about half our transactions are shareholders selling for age related reasons, retirement or health. The other half are selling for other reasons such as wanting a change or feeling that a merger would provide benefits at their particular stage of the business lifecycle.
It turns out the average retirement age for Australians is the highest it's been since the 1970s. With apparently 20% of new employment since 2019 being people aged 55 and above!