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- How to Successfully Sell Your Business to an Employee (9/25/23)
Looking Ahead at 2015
2014 was a good year for business brokerage - our first really good year since the recession. I'm feeling optimistic going into 2015 as well and here's why:
Buyers are excited. They're starting to feel better about the economy. The businesses that made it through the recession have demonstrated their resiliency and, even if the numbers aren't quite back to normal, they survived and that survival builds confidence. Buyers have better access to low-cost money and strategic buyers are ready to grow through acquisition. They feel they can earn a better return buying a business than they can by investing in the traditional markets.
Sellers are tired. Battling through the recession has left them exhausted. Many are past their planned retirement age but they simply couldn't sell their businesses during the recession and so they gutted it out. Now that the numbers are ticking back up, they're ready to restart the conversation about retirement. They are proud of what they've built and it's time to let someone else take the reins. Values are lower than they would like overall, but they understand and are prepared to accept a reasonable price for their business.
Based on our listings and the number of buyers we're talking to daily, it looks like 2015 is going to see a lot of deals. Many will still involve seller financing, earn-outs, and creative deal structures, but probably to a lesser extent than during these past few years because lenders are able to help with low interest rates. This is good news all around.
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