Buyers can be broken down into three categories:
A. Entrepreneurial Buyers:
Typically an individual or small group of business people who are looking to purchase and run their own business. Their funding comes typically from real estate equity and cash they have accumulated through their efforts (employment or other business ventures). They often don’t have specific experience in the industry or market of the target company, but have the entrepreneurial drive to learn and be successful.
The Entrepreneurial Buyer’s approach to valuation is a balance between:
- Earning a FMV Salary for the job they do
- Ensuring that the business can afford to pay the financing put in place for the acquisition
- A risk appropriate Return on Equity (ROE) that reflects the personal equity they invested
B. Strategic Buyers:
Typically a business looking to make a strategic acquisition to complement their current operations. The Strategic Buyer’s motivation could one of:
- Consolidation (eg. Buying a competitor)
- Integration (eg. Buying up or down their supply chain)
- Growth (eg. Buying distribution channels, customers or product/service capabilities)
The Strategic Buyer can often realize operational synergies and cost savings by acquiring a target company thereby improving the overall cash flow of the business. This results in an ROE that would be higher than for an Entrepreneurial Buyer. Often, Strategic Buyers are less price sensitive and tend to be willing to pay a higher price for an acquisition.
C. Investment Buyers:
Investment Buyers tend to be a more sophisticated type of buyer who views a target company strictly based on the strength of the financial numbers. A typical Investment Buyer would be a Private Equity firm who is looking to make a strategic acquisition of a business from an investment and performance perspective. A key consideration for this type of Buyer would be to have a well-seasoned management team in place to continue to run the day to day operations. The Investment Buyer generally does not take an active role in the running of the business, but rather on a director role, helping to establish strategic direction and providing growth financing as needed.
Investment Buyers tend to only acquire a business with a clear exit strategy in place. It is not uncommon for Investment Buyers to offer the Seller incentives to continue in the company after the transaction with stock options or similar incentives. Investment Buyers are typically highly sophisticated and disciplined, and will pay up to the ROE they expect from the acquisition based on risk, strategic benefits, tax savings, and so on. There is typically very little emotional influence in the decision making process. Investment Buyers usually will not look at businesses under about $2 million in cash flow, as the costs of acquisition is higher for the Investment Buyer.