Entries by Al Statz

What is a Recapitalization Exit Strategy?

One of the exit strategies available to company owners is called a recapitalization, or “recap”. In a recapitalization, an investor (usually a private equity firm) purchases an equity interest in your company using a combination of cash and debt financing. They expect to grow the company and earn an attractive return on their cash investment […]

Exit Strategies Sells ExpressPCB to Strategic Buyer

Exit Strategies recently sold California-based ExpressPCB, North America’s leading supplier of custom printed circuit boards for prototyping and low volume production.  Founded in 1998, ExpressPCB pioneered the market for quick-turn circuit boards using proprietary electronics design software and one-click ordering. For Sunstone Circuits, an Oregon-based printed circuit board fabricator, the acquisition is synergistic and accretive. […]

Vaguely Right or Precisely Wrong about Cash Flow

Warren Buffet once quoted the economist John Maynard Keynes, “I would rather be vaguely right, than precisely wrong,” in describing how he determines the appropriate cash flow measure of a company. Indeed, determining the value of a business is not a precise exercise.  However, neither is the process random guesswork. After assessing the facts and […]

Business Acquisition Financing: What Lenders Want

In 13 years of selling private businesses, financial leverage has been a consistent success factor for us in expanding the pool of buyers and closing deals. Fortunately for business owners, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) loan guaranty program is an excellent funding source for deals up to about $5 million. Today’s interest rates are low, […]

Funding Your Buy-Sell Transactions

A properly structured Buy-Sell Agreement (BSA) ensures a market for owners’ equity when they leave the business, restricts the transfer of shares to unwanted parties, and lays out a set of rules and processes that mitigate the overall risk of uncertainty when a trigger event occurs. However, without having adequate funding mechanism(s) in place, a […]

Court Chastens Expert Over Deficient Business Valuation

Sometimes courts face a hard choice, having to decide between equally compelling and competent valuations. Not so in a recent fair value proceeding in which the skills gap between the testifying experts made it easy for the court to pick the winner. Use of the Valuation: Business Divorce The petitioner and the respondent were the […]

The Dismal D’s of Buy-Sell Agreements

Well-written Buy-Sell Agreements (BSA’s) enable orderly share transfers upon the occurrence of certain events during the life of a business. Buy-Sell Agreements also prevent litigation that can quickly create a lose-lose situation for business owners. This article presents a list of 27 trigger events and common issues to be addressed in Buy-Sell Agreements. And, just […]