John D. Wagner

OPEX % is a key performance indicator, and every buyer analyzes it closely.

One of the last things the buyer does is perform a hard-count of the seller’s inventory so that the buyer has an opening balance sheet for their new operation.

Let's say you successfully found a buyer for your company, and you are wrapping up the due diligence process as the final stage before your deal proceeds.

Selling your business in an inflationary period doesn’t necessarily mean selling it at a discount.

As always happens, we will cycle out of a down market and use the lessons learned to grow even more valuable companies in the future.

Buyers of LBM businesses are overwhelmingly private equity groups, and they think of deal elements (like senior debt, subordinate debt, seller’s notes, earn-outs, and escrows) as a percent of the total they pay for your company.

A curious question has come up among some buyers we deal with who are acquiring LBM businesses.

There can be as many as four deal elements that make up an offer to acquire your company.

EBITDA is a term with a time-worn, clinical definition. It stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.

There are three general classes of buyers that might acquire your company: 1) A Strategic Buyer (strategic), 2) a pure Private Equity Group (PEG), 3) a Merchant’s Bank.