Some might say the best time to pursue an acquisition is when the right opportunity comes along, but they’re wrong. The best time to pursue M&A is whenever you are ready. The best opportunities are those that you seek out proactively. If you wait around for opportunity to come to you, you may be missing …
Tag: Not-for-sale acquisition
What Not to Say to an Owner in Your First Meeting
When meeting an owner for the first time, your goal is not to instantly sign a deal. You first want to get to know them and make them feel comfortable about selling their business to you. In order to do this, there are some important questions to ask and subjects to broach, which I’ve covered …
How You Can Get an Owner to Say “Yes” to Acquisition
When contacting an owner about acquisitions, don’t be surprised to hear “no.” Most owners, when asked about selling their “not-for-sale” business will automatically refuse simply because it’s unexpected. Remember, for an owner focused on running the day-to-day operations of his business, this offer is coming out of the blue. There are, of course, a number of …
“Why Did You Sell Your Not-for-Sale Business?” – A CEO Explains
CEO Paul Villella of HireStrategy recently shared why he sold his company ─ despite not actively looking to sell ─ and the results one year after the acquisition. Paul addressed a packed room of CEOs, CFOs and senior-level executives from the Washington-DC area at “Grow or Die: A Panel Discussion on Middle Market M&A” hosted …
Family Dollar and Dollar Tree Finally Reach Deal to Merge
Family Dollar and Dollar Tree finally have reached a deal to merge for $8.5 billion. This merger comes after months of negotiations between Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and Dollar General. Family Dollar and Dollar Tree originally came to an agreement last July, but Dollar General quickly stepped in with a higher offer. Interestingly, although Dollar …
Acquisitions: Every Company Is For Sale
Why actively pursuing not-for-sale companies can lead to a better acquisition than a for-sale opportunity. When searching for acquisition prospects, most people only consider for-sale acquisitions. Usually these are offered by investment bankers, who carry a “book” of candidate companies. Restricting your search to for-sale opportunities is usually a mistake. I encourage clients to actively …
Maximizing Your Resources with Privately Held, Not-for-Sale Acquisitions
Sprint has dropped its bid to acquire T-Mobile due to regulatory pressure. Large, public transactions must be reported and should be regulated by law, of course, but this is an unfortunate setback for Sprint. After investing resources putting together the deal and lobbying for months, the company must walk away from it because of external …
Finding the Best Acquisition Opportunities
“The best opportunities are the ones we’re pursuing and not the other way around.” This comment in The Wall Street Journal from Smadar Levi, CFO of MyHeritage.com, is one I wholeheartedly agree with. She is quoted in an article about the growing number of startups seeking to be acquired. With fewer financing options available to …
Top Mistake Leaders Make When Pursuing M&A
Many leaders take a reactive rather than proactive approach when it comes to M&A. They often realize that their organic growth is stagnant and they’ve got some money they can leverage, so they decide to make an acquisition. What do they do? They go find for-sale companies or respond to those that have found them. …
Don’t Let Deal-Fever Derail Your Strategy
It’s that time of year again. The holiday season is a great occasion to spend time with family, celebrate with friends, give to charity, drink hot cocoa – and of course buy presents. Beginning with Black Friday, holiday sales are out in full swing with retailers trying to entice consumers with the lowest prices on …
