GW Equity

Why Sell Your Business

GW Equity is a global Merger and Acquisition firm, providing expertise and assistance to owners contemplating a sale, merger or acquisition opportunity for their middle market business. Our more than 300 professional advisors work with you to help maximize your sale price by finding strategic growth and exit strategies, and promote your business to an international buying community.

Are you considering selling all or part of your business? In this unstable global economy, it's often difficult for business owners to know the best time to buy or sell for the maximum amount of profit. Our staff of over 300 Merger and Acquisition experts can help you decide:

• Should my company be sold?
• How much of the company should be sold?
• Is this the right time to sell?

Our knowledgeable equity experts can show you exactly what you'll need to do to successfully sell your business for maximum profit, and provide you with all the tools you'll need to do it. Our comprehensive program covers all aspects of the buying and selling process.

We will teach you:

When potential buyers search for businesses to acquire, they're looking to:

• enhance their existing business operations
• complement or diversify their current product portfolio
• provide entry into new geographic/demographic markets
• widen their customer base and/or increase market share.

In order for a seller to receive top dollar on the sale of their business, the buyer must feel confident about the future benefits of the business. The seller should be able to demonstrate the business's competitive positioning and future market potential relative to its competitors. GW Equity helps business owners' present potential buyers with a comprehensive portfolio of the necessary elements to illustrate the business' growth potential and financial stability.

Another important way to increase the final sale price of your business is to maximize the value of the business prior to listing it.

Methods in which sellers can determine the valuation of their business include conducting "public market comparable analysis, identifying precedent M&A transactions, discounted cash flow analysis, book or asset valuation approaches and applying multiples to revenue, EBITDA or net income."

Our representatives are experts at maximizing valuation and helping sellers avoid common selling mistakes which undervalue your business' total worth.

When negotiating the total valuation of your business, it is important to present properly "recasted" financial statements to the prospective buyer. Historical financial data may not provide an accurate assessment of your business' value, as private businesses often report minimal profit for tax purposes. While this does help with taxes, it can be very detrimental to the overall business value presented to potential buyers, and can ultimately cost the seller thousands of dollars in lost profit at the time of sale.

The representatives at GW Equity have decades of collective experience in analyzing and recasting financial statements to maximize value paid to our clients.

A key to generating a more profitable sale of your business is to provide potential buyers with an accurate five-year financial projection.

Sellers should develop a five year financial plan using credible market research which incorporates future market penetration, revenue growth projections and cost savings opportunities.

Our experts have years of experience in conducting rigorous market research and analysis to help you effectively market your business to potential buyers.

When seeking to merge your business, the more interest the business generates, the better. We recommend selling shares to multiple buyers to increase competition and increase business value.

Our M&A experts can help you attract the attention of a large narrowly focused group of potential investors, and help you choose the best fit for your merger. We can also help you create a strategic time table that allows for the most competition among buyers while still "closing the deal" in a time-effective manner.

When selling your business, timing, as they say, is everything. A properly timed sale can make all the difference in the world when it comes to final value. Unfortunately, the right time to sell isn't always when the you're "ready" to sell, so obtaining the services of a skilled advisor to monitor the market for you can potentially increase your business' maximum value exponentially.

When selling shares of your business it is important to remember that the final purchase price is just part of the total package. Focusing too heavily on the up-front payout can often cheat you from potential profits later on. If you're still interested in having an active role in your company post-sale, our advisors can help you develop an 'earn-out' package or stock options which will allow you to receive additional payments over time.

Most M&A processes take approximately one year. In that time, we focus on two key stages: deal assessment and deal execution.

This initial phase in the M&A process typically takes between 8 and 13 weeks to complete. During this time, our M&A experts will:

• Recast your financial statements by collecting your financial data and making it "market ready," helping reduce seller fees while promoting the highest possible market value for your business.
• Research the current market of your business to receive prime market positioning.
• Determine the value of your business and the market in which it should be presented for sale.

Once our experts have completed our assessment and your business is ready for sale, we work with you to effectively market your business to interested buyers and execute the sale of your business. This stage includes:

• Creating marketing materials to effectively attract premium buyers and investors to your business.
• Following up on business solicitation leads with presentations and site visits.
• Creating a focused list of potential buyers.
• Working with the seller to assist them in presenting potential buyers with financial and operating information crucial to a sale.
• Helping sellers evaluate bids, conduct negotiations, develop a deal and close the sale.