GarlandAg2012 said:
But how does he find buyers? I'm not sure what the asking price would be, probably low 7 figures, so obviously it would need to be someone with access to capital - though he may be willing to owner finance it or something, I have no idea. Any ideas for how he could find buyers?
Just revisiting this thread, and wanted to comment on this specific portion ...
Starting with the business valuation - never pay for a business valuation for the purpose of selling a company. I know that may sound counterintuitive, but when you are intent on selling a business, paid business valuations don't necessarily arm you with accurate market information you need. There are literally dozens of business valuation techniques that are "accurate," but these different methods will typically produce results all over the board. When you're considering selling, what you need is a market approach valuation - simply put, this is the value buyers will be willing to pay for a business when it's on the market.
The first thing I do for a prospective client that is interested in selling is to provide them with a comprehensive no cost, no obligation business market valuation. I not only tell them how much the business is worth and what market value buyers will be interested in paying, but also why it's worth what it is and what they can expect the process to look like if they decide to move forward and list it for sale. You don't need to pay for a valuation to get a quality analysis from a reputable firm.
As for buyers - finding buyers is actually the easiest part of selling a business! There are any number of places you can post a business for sale and get tons of response - several good suggestions have already been mentioned in this thread, and companies like mine should have databases of active buyers they regularly market to (we have about 6,000 ready, willing an able buyers in our database, for example).
The hard part of selling a business isn't finding interested buyers, it's qualifying those buyers, defending the valuation to buyers that want to negotiate the price, negotiating the terms of an LOI and the structure of the deal, managing the due diligence process, arranging financing, negotiating legal documents, and then actually getting to the closing table. Not to mention the inevitable emotional roller coaster most owners go through when selling - it's good to have a steady hand on the wheel in those situations.
I would highly encourage your father to talk to someone about professional representation - obviously I'd love to talk to him, because this business is right in my wheelhouse and backyard! But regardless of who he talks to, he will have a significantly better experience if he engages a quality M&A professional to represent him in this process.
Best of luck!
jeremy@northstar-mergers.com