Although we pride ourselves on providing a great deal of attention, thoughtful guidance and assistance to entrepreneurs looking to buy, our core focus is helping owners sell their businesses. We work comfortably and happily with businesses that are quite small as well as with companies worth $10’s and even $100’s of millions.
While there are certainly differences in the deal process between small and large firms (mainly in marketing approach and valuation techniques), the core activities involved with any business transfer – valuing, packaging, marketing, screening and negotiating with potential buyers, receiving and analyzing offers, final due diligence prior to closing – remain largely the same regardless of size.
Main Street
“Main Street” businesses, which we think of as firms having a value ranging from low six-figures up to a few million dollars, are handled through our Brokerage Group. We are confident the business owner will find it very difficult indeed to identify a comparable service to what we provide.
That’s largely because the VR approach of overseeing and guiding every aspect of the sale soup-to-nuts is unusual among business brokers. Also, the VR marketing methodology and the level of training provided to VR Intermediaries, as well as the deep, collective deal experience of the VR network of offices, is simply unmatched by any other business broker group, large or small. Selling a business is hard work and fraught with pitfalls.
At VR, we benefit from this network and we are committed to being among the upper-echelon of VR offices when it comes to providing service and straightforward, expert advice to our clients.
Our model is 100% success-fee driven. We don’t get paid unless you get paid.
That being said, please bear in mind there is often preparatory work, on the part of your accountant and possibly others, that goes into maximizing the salability and value of your business prior to the onset of marketing. We do not charge anything for our efforts and advice in this regard, but we may advise you to invest in an independent, third-party valuation report, for instance. These reports are sometimes an integral part of our marketing package. In addition, they generally provide value when it comes to minimizing price negotiations and/or obtaining buyer financing, if necessary, to complete the sale. If we do recommend you purchase a third-party valuation report, rest assured we will work with the professional valuation firm throughout the process. Moreover, the cost will be reasonable and will be fully reimbursed at closing.
M&A
For owners of larger companies there are, of course, many high-quality investment banking firms available to you. Generally speaking, we will offer equivalent services and sound advice – our principals have the sophistication and background in the deal-making arena to match anybody – but with a very different model
We don’t charge the up-front retainers and on-going monthly fees required by the banking boutiques and mid-market M&A shops.
Because our financial success is directly tied to, and dependent on, successful management of your transaction, we are compelled to be more selective, realistic and honest – with ourselves and our clients – than firms that are making good money whether or not your goals are realized. Many owners find our forthright approach and the total alignment of our respective interests to be key positives in our favor when choosing who to entrust with the sale of their business.
That being said, we are generalists. Depending on the nature and size of your business, you may, quite accurately, feel that a specialist banking group focused on your field has the contacts and industry knowledge your Company needs to maximize value. If this possibly describes your situation, we believe we can present you with a win-win scenario.
We have numerous strong relationships with high-quality banking boutiques focused on HealthCare, IT, Software, as examples, as well as with larger regional and national investment banks. We will always consider partnering with the right group to ensure you get excellent transaction advice and the level of confidential marketing exposure appropriate for your situation.
One key benefit of coming to VR first and allowing us to negotiate a joint undertaking with one of the appropriate industry specialist banking firms is that you will almost certainly avoid any up-front or minimum fee commitments or retainers.
As you know, avoiding these fees is extremely unlikely if you go directly to the mid-market M&A shops or investment banking firms, simply because their business models do not allow for completely success-fee based work. The consultancy fees they generate throughout the transaction process are very important given their salary and overhead structures. Our model is different.
Another significant benefit of allowing us to participate in a banking partnership on your behalf is access to the relationships and knowledge of our office, the entire global VR network and those of our partner on the transaction – all for the same success fee you would pay either firm individually. That’s what we call win-win!
Large or small, nobody will work harder for you than VR.