Showing posts with label Buy a business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buy a business. Show all posts

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Sunbelt Completes the Sale of a Specialized Property Management Company

We are pleased to announce this successful transaction. The business is a 30 year old company operated by the same 2 partners since it's inception. Both partners were ready to retire.

The sellers were referred to Sunbelt by Steve Drake a well known Houston, Texas financial planner and host of his own financial radio show call Money Matters.

The business specializes in the management of Homeowners Associations.

The buyer had experience in working for an association management firm and was able to finance the purchase with a very attractive bank loan from Allegiance Bank utilizing the SBA Loan Guarantee program. Gary Henderson managed the process for Allegiance Bank.

The buyer will assure the business lives on long past the time when the founders were able to operate the company.

We are proud to be a part of this transaction that enables long time business owners to realize the value created in their business and retire in the comfort they had worked so hard to earn.


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Outstanding B2B Digital Printing Business for Sale in Houston Texas

Well established business-to-business company that focuses on servicing other companies. Clients are strong companies who utilize this company's outsource digital printing services.

In business for nearly 20 years this business adapts to and leads the market in sophisticated, specialized niche printing and media services.

Annual sales are nearly $1,000,000

SDE (profit available to owner) is $235,000+

Asking price: $550,000 is extremely reasonable for this B2B Monday - Friday business.

A qualified buyer with approximately  $100,000 liquid for a down payment could obtain an SBA Loan for $500,000 (includes some working capital).Loan payments would be approximately $66,000.

For new owner a cash flow profit could be $169,000.

Click here for more details and contact information  or call 281.440.513

www.sunbelttexas.com

Sunbelt Business Brokers Houston Texas

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Anatomy of a Successful Small Business Purchase


Although the names, location, types of businesses and other details have been changed for confidentiality purchases this Hub reflects real transactions in the world of buying and selling a business.
The Buyer
Susan, 45, had been employed in the corporate world for 15 years and had done well, worked hard and gotten good performance ratings. She felt like she would be with her company for a long, long time. She thought that right up until the moment when, on a Friday afternoon, she opened an email from the company CEO stating that the company had just agreed to be acquired and more details about what that means to individual employees would be forthcoming in the next few weeks and months.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Small Business Purchase Due Diligence

Buying a small business has many challenges not the least of which is the due diligence process prior to the purchase. Most small business owners run their business with no thought of selling it. Their record keeping and bookkeeping are done for their needs and there is no thought given to how a buyer would view their information.

When buying a small business Due Diligence has 3 basic areas of focus. Two of the three require the assistance of the seller:

  1. Industry Due Diligence: The seller is often the worst source for this information. Many small business owners have no real idea of the industry outside the 4 walls of their business. Get what you can from the seller but be prepared to conduct your industry due diligence with outside resources. Most industries have Trade Associations that can be a good source of information. Here's a link to a Directory of Trade Associations
  2. Business Operational Due Diligence: This is where the seller has the most information. They usually can give you, the business buyer, every detail of the business process. During due diligence focus on understanding why the seller does something their way. Also, you will likely find that the business seller has not documented their processes very well or more likely at all. When discuss operations with the seller try to take all the notes you can so that you can get focused on the critical areas you need to understand. You'll have plenty of time later to figure out if you want to change something. Keep in mind that you will be replacing the owner so spending time focusing on what the seller actually does day to day is important. You might want to start a specific list and identify evey seller's duty - daily, weekley, monthly, annually.
  3. Financial Due Diligence: This is the wild card. Different seller's are all over the place on this. I've seen million dollar businesses run from a shoe box and $50,000 businesses with perfect accounting. Don't focus on how they keep their books, just focus on how you can determine from their books if the information is reasonably accurate and you can determine how much money the business is actually making. Most small business financial due diligence starts with bank accounts. Do the deposits made at the bank equal the sales reported for the business? If not, why? Once you pull on that thread it will lead you to other questions.
We have a saying in our business, "There are good businesses with bad books, good businesses with good books, bad businesses with bad books and bad businesses with good books".  Make sure your due diligence helps you determine which kind of business you are evaluating. Understand the bookkeeping situation but don't let that automatically disqualify a business for possible purchase.

Keep in mind that your goal is to buy a good business, not just buy a good bookkeeping system.

Related Posts:

Excellent Book about Managing Small Business Finances:

Small Business Financial Management Kit For Dummies

Excellent Document Shredder for Confidential Disposal of Sensitive Materials



   

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Confidentiality when Buying a Business

A lot of things can go wrong when buying a business. Here's some background on the Importance of Confidentiality. If you want to buy a business....understanding this issue can be the difference between buying a business and losing a good opportunity. Below is a short slide presentation:







Library of 20 Articles about Buying a Business

Note: Please note that this information is copyright protected and can not be reproduced without the written consent of Sunbelt Business Brokers Houston Texas or Dan Elliott.