Our Process
We believe that no two companies are alike and therefore, the M&A process that we recommend for our clients is carefully considered and strategically executed in order to maximize success and meet our clients’ high standards.
Step 1
Telling Your Company’s Story
At Cadence, we believe that carefully crafting your company’s unique and compelling story is critical to the successful sale of your business.
We take great pride in working with you to understand what sets your company apart from the competition and then thoughtfully positioning that story to the ideal buyers. This effort includes in-depth research about your company, an analysis of the broader marketplace in which you compete, a clear and concise presentation of your financial performance, and the thoughtful articulation of your personal objectives to prospective buyers.
Identifying the Right Pool of Buyers
Identifying the right buyer audience is necessary to achieve a successful transaction. While this seems obvious, accomplishing it requires significant experience and intuition, supported by strategic research.
As a business owner, you may routinely receive unsolicited acquisition interest from a variety of parties. The data is clear, however, that most closed transactions do not result from these unsolicited inquiries. We work hard to curate an insightful list of suitors for you – some may be familiar to you, while many others are likely not. To accomplish this, we first research the known potential buyer universe for your firm, including domestic strategic competitors, international buyers, private equity firms, family offices, or various combinations to help drive your ideal transaction. We also supplement this list with a lesser known, but equally compelling, list of suitors and insights gained by our over 70 years of combined M&A expertise.
From dealing with a single interested buyer that has contacted you, to expanding the outreach to include a handful of likely strategic buyers in your industry, or broadening the outreach to include 100+ prospective strategics, private equity firms, and international buyers, Cadence will thoughtfully craft a bidder list that is tailored to your individual objectives, You can be assured we will guide your transaction every step of the way.
Contacting Interested Parties
With marketing materials in hand and a thoughtfully researched list of buyers thoroughly vetted by us and approved by you, we are now ready to commence the outreach process.
The primary goal of our marketing effort is to maximize interest among all parties by properly staging the outreach, and bringing all parties with their competing offers to bear at approximately the same time.
These efforts are bolstered by maintaining strict confidentiality – from your staff, your clients, and your competitors. We secure this by limiting contact to only approved parties and also requiring all who show interest to sign enforceable confidentiality agreements before receiving any detailed marketing materials on your firm.
Once these parties have reviewed the provided information, we will request initial offers or “first round” bids, often in the form of either an informal Indication of Interest (IOI) or a more detailed letter of Intent (LOI).
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Selecting a Winning Partner
With all first round offers received, the next step is to narrow the field to those parties who have expressed the highest interest. We organize meetings with these interested parties to advance both buyer and seller due diligence and to facilitate relationship building. From there, we narrow the field even further with the ultimate goal being the selection of the final party with whom you would like to transact.
We recognize that while the initial offer price may be the most important factor, owners’ goals often include items such as maintaining family legacy, protecting key staff, negotiating parameters of earnouts or any delayed portions of the purchase price (if applicable), securing either the sale or long-term lease for your facilities – to name just a few. Many owners feel they must sacrifice such goals to maximize purchase price, but that is generally not the case. At Cadence, we work hard to understand your personal objectives so we can best help you achieve them.
Meeting with buyers and getting to know them as individuals, rather than solely their firms is crucial in selecting a winning bidder. We arrange for these meetings to be held in a mutually convenient setting so that you can hear their stories and apply your own judgment and instincts to select among them.
Working to Close the Transaction
With a winning bidder selected, the real work begins. Cadence will manage every detail through to the closing date. Since most buyers will require exclusive negotiations for two to three months to allow for their due diligence and to carefully negotiate the extensive legal documents required, getting this process right is critical for all parties.
We understand these times can be particularly challenging for a business owner. Juggling the demands of a transaction due diligence process while maintaining focus on running the day-to-day operations of your business will be critical to your success. Our Cadence team is here to support the transaction at every stage: helping you prepare your files and detailed analyses, managing a virtual data room to present these materials to the buyer, reviewing complex legal files and, of course, negotiating all deal points.
Congratulations! Once the deal closes, the transaction proceeds are wired to your preferred financial institution.