Our Services
The central purpose of our services can be summed up succinctly: we help business owners sell their company
The Mainmast Advantage
What can a Professional
Approach do for me?
When you hire our firm, you will be launching into the sale process by taking a professional approach as opposed to a do-it-yourself one. There are several distinct benefits of this:
1. Level the playing field
Mainmast Capital will bring a detailed, thoughtful approach ensuring your company is presented with competence and professionalism.
Buyers typically will have years of experience in merger & acquisitions and have multiple transactions under their belt. Our firm will help bring transaction experience to your side of the equation as well as guide you in building out a complete transaction team to ensure your interests are fully protected.
2. Secure better terms
Buyers love to find out that business owners are unrepresented because it usually means they will not have the same level of competition when they submit a bid. Hiring a professional advisor brings a credible threat that another buyer may outbid them. Even in a single-buyer negotiation, this credible threat and professional representation encourages them to take a seller seriously, bid a higher price and execute the deal with a sense of urgency.
Also, by generating multiple interested parties and driving competition, we are maximizing the opportunity to sell your company for the highest market price at the best terms. The best buyer is often not the original one the owner anticipated at the outset. The increase in price over an unrepresented sale will often exceed our fee, creating an effective zero-cost for our services.
Additionally, contract terms other than price can often create significant differences between offers that must be carefully weighed. An experienced transaction team will walk you through the practical, legal, and tax consequences of the distinct features of each offer.
3. Preserve your legacy
By increasing the number of qualified candidates bidding on your company, you will have an opportunity to evaluate them beyond their offer terms for their ability to carry on your company’s legacy, as well as take care of your customers and employees. Often times an unrepresented sale will not give you the opportunity to assess multiple buyers from this vantage point.
4. Avoid deal killers
Hidden issues that arise late in the process can derail an entire transaction. The most common deal killer of all is time delays.
By preparing and organizing information up front, Mainmast positions you for success once you accept an offer. Our pre-market preparation includes a thorough review of your company to identify key topics that need to be disclosed up front. We will help steer around potential threats and keep the momentum of the transaction moving forward. This also serves to minimize the likelihood that a buyer attempts to re-trade on the original offer due to adverse information discovered in due diligence.
5. Reduce time commitment and maintain focus
One of the biggest hidden costs of selling your company by yourself is the amount of time it requires. This time commitment is often unseen until deep in the process. Owners who struggle to stay focused on their business may find their company performance is negatively impacted in the long-run. This can have negative consequences on the final sale price or other terms.
With our firm running the transaction process, owners can stay focused on their daily operations. We will help bear a significant part of the time burden including the preparation of marketing materials, due diligence and document review. We also shield owners from communication with buyers until appropriately late into the bid process. Finally, we take point in handling the coordination between all the parties of the sell-side team as well as serve as the bridge of communication with the buy-side.
6. Navigate the complexity
Business transactions can be complex. The scope of a transaction can be overwhelming and the emotional toll of the twists and turns in a transaction can be real.
We help plan for the upcoming stages of a transaction as well as prioritize the tasks systematically. And when unexpected events arise, which they often do, you will have someone in your corner for counsel and for developing solutions. With a trusted advisor handling the process, owners can have confidence they are proceeding along the correct path.
7. Maintain confidentiality
Self-managed sale processes will invariably reveal the owner and company to buyers prematurely. After all, the owner is making the direct contact at the outset.
By hiring Mainmast to run the marketing process, your company’s confidentiality is maintained until after confidentiality agreements are signed with prospective buyers. This allows us to cast the initial net of outreach to potential buyers much further without incurring risk of early disclosure.
Additionally, we will work to ensure that your company is only shown to serious parties who we believe have a legitimate interest in purchasing your business. Tire-kickers will be culled out quickly. Subsequent details of your business will only be shared on an as-needed basis to buyers who demonstrate a sufficient degree of serious interest.
The Mainmast Advantage
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