Business Brokerage
Stump Financial Corporation and Stump & Company specialize in
assisting shareholders who wish to sell their businesses. For
many reasons, business owners seek to sell their business, however,
they frequently do not know how to professionally and realistically
value the company, solicit qualified buyers or structure and close
a transaction.
Our backgrounds and experience in successfully closing transactions
make us leaders in dealing with the intricacies of business ownership
and the issues of selling a business. Our Four
Issues Facing Selling Shareholders will tell you if you are
ready to sell.
All assignments to sell a company are based upon an exclusive
contractual engagement with the business owner. We spend great
amounts of time upfront with the owner(s), the Board of Directors,
and other company advisors to qualify their true desire to sell
the business.
The next step involves an in-depth valuation of the business
to ensure that the business owner's price expectation is in line
with the market valuation. It is critical to properly value the
business prior to exposing the company to prospective buyers.
Once a valuation of the business is established, a targeted prospective
buyer list is prepared and reviewed with the business owner. Each
name is carefully selected and qualified prior to soliciting their
interest as a prospective purchaser. This target list is carefully
developed from all types of buyers: strategic buyers, foreign
buyers, financial (lbo-type) buyers, and entrepreneurial/owner-operator
buyers.
Final negotiations with one or more prospective buyers typically
results in an acceptable Letter of Intent, which outlines the
basic terms and conditions of a proposed deal. From that point
forward, we work closely with the owner and his legal and accounting
advisors to structure the most advantageous transaction. The increasingly
complex legal, tax and environmental issues of closing a transaction
require skilled negotiations and in-depth attention.
We have successfully closed over 350 transactions, and our track
record is based upon these five basic qualities:
- Integrity/Confidentiality
- Extensive Contacts
- Financial Expertise
- Creativity/Innovation
- Hard Work
As described above, valuation is a key factor in successfully
selling a company. In addition to valuing the companies we are
retained to sell, we often will prepare valuation reports for
non-selling situations, such as estate planning, ESOPs, insurance
underwriting and tax disputes.
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