It can take over 20 approaches to find the company that you want to buy. Furthermore, for smaller buyers the success rate can be as low as 30% from signing an agreement in principle to actual completion. That’s over 60 meetings! This is not a productive use of management time and the resulting lack of focus on day-to-day operations can have a long-term detrimental impact.
In a highly competitive marketplace sometimes the only way to grow significantly is to to acquire a competitor or a business that will add value to your existing business. This seems a simple and easy process – find somebody who wants to sell and buy them! In reality it is exceptionally difficult without experience and expertise. It can also be very time consuming and often detracts from the day-to-day running of the business. At Venture Corporate Finance we have developed a buy and build strategy that allows us to manage the process and increase your chance of a successful acquisition.
THE BUY AND BUILD PROCESS
The Venture Corporate Finance way
With our dedicated process our aim is to find you a suitable and agreeable acquisition target from a little as 3 months but no later than 5 months from our engagement.
Target acquisition
Target Acquisition
With so many companies how do you find the right “off market” targets, approach them and highlight your buyer proposition.
Included
- Summary business review with current valuation
- Buyer proposition development
- Target profile
- Research team to approach opportunities
- Bi-weekly opportunities review meeting
Timeframe
ACTION
Month 1
- Understand the strategic objectives from the buyer.
- Understand and agree the target profile.
Agree buyer proposition. - Research and sales team begin approaches.
Month 2
- Bi-weekly opportunities meeting to understand the identified targets.
- Gather and review operational and financial data.
Month 3 to 5
- Repeat the process until an offer is accepted.
Funding
Do you have the funds already? Do you need to raise bank debt?
As part of understanding who you are and how you will financially acquire a business we will support you with raising funds if required. That could either be from Private Equity, a specialist corporate lender or through a high street bank.
Included
- Financial review of your business
- Develop and produce a funding proposition
- Introduction to lenders
• A funding success fee will apply
Timeframe
Action
Month 2 to 5
- Understand financials of the buyer
- Review funding expectations versus target opportunities
- Develop funding business plan
- Pitch funding opportunity to lending parties
- Agree funding and structure
Completing the deal
Getting from Heads of Terms to completion
New buyers find that up to 70% of potential acquisitions do not complete leading to wasted time and money. The Venture Corporate Finance way aims to reduce the risk of an unsuccessful process.
Included
- Negotiation with buyer on Heads of Terms document
- Agree roadmap for completion
- All parties introduction including taxation and legal teams
- Formal Due Diligence request documents and data room set-up
- Liaise with seller throughout to ensure they are supported
- Support with final negotiations on Shareholder Agreement document
Timeframe
ACTION
Month 4 to 8
- Agree valuation and deal structure with the seller
- Negotiate and agree the Heads of Terms document
- Introduce legal and taxation advisors (if required)
- Analyse the due diligence data room and liaise with other professional advisors
- Weekly project management of parties until completion
- Complete your acquisition!
Integration
Spend ££££ and then fail to integrate effectively
This is really the key to successful M&A and a well thought through integration strategy with execution will ensure that you maximise the assets that you have just acquired.
Included
- Introduction to integration specialist
- Continue to build pipeline of opportunities
- Maintain and develop existing relationships for identified targets
Timeframe
ACTION
Month 7 to 12
If required arrange support via an external integration specialist or support your existing team to integrate the new business.
Review and move to the next acquisition
Integration complete
Once the first acquisition has been completed you will have a better understanding of the process and journey to complete a deal and we will have a more developed opportunity pipeline. This will allow us to move forward with a second acquisition with increased confidence.
Optional service
We offer you the opportunity to host an event with dedicated opportunities and become a speaker at an our dedicated events.
THE TIMETABLE FROM START TO COMPLETION
Making an offer for a business within 5 months
With a buy and build strategy it starts with finding the opportunities but some identified targets may not be ready to sell at the moment and so we will need to maintain a relationship and information flow with them until they are in a position to be acquired.
Part of our service is to manage your pipeline of opportunities so that “profile opportunities” are ready as and when you need them.
Do you need helping growing the size of your business and significantly increasing the business valuation?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who will be involved in my project
As buy and build strategies are more complex we will involve our research, marketing teams along with a dedicated senior advisor and a dedicated transaction expert.
What happens if i don't find an opportunity that I want in 5 months?
In the unlikely event that we do not find a suitable, qualified target within 5 months we will allow you to step away from the process with no strings attached.
How much does this cost?
The first 6 weeks of this programme is FREE of CHARGE.
That allows us to develop the proposition, understand your business and also start preparing targets.