Category: Uncategorized

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February 10, 2015

Be Proactive to Maximize Value

By Joseph Eneldas

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.   — Sun Tzu Selling a company is a monumental job – one that most business owners expect (and hope) to do only once in their lives.  After all, the company is generally the most…

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January 13, 2015

A Business Sale without Tax Planning?

By Joseph Eneldas

Ask ten potential business sellers what’s most important about selling their businesses and at least nine will answer, “Getting the highest price.” That’s not true, or at least shouldn’t be. Typically, finding an investor with a full price offer to buy a business is less challenging than finding a seller who can project the true…

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December 9, 2014

No Motivation – No Deal

By Joseph Eneldas

As the year draws to an end, it is interesting to review our investor inquiries and deal flow in 2014 in order to identify some of the contributing factors that left some business sellers, as well as investors, without a deal. Most significantly, one factor is the outstanding one: motivation – or better, the lack…

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October 6, 2014

When is the Best Time to Sell My Business?

By Joseph Eneldas

At A Neumann & Associates, we get asked the question “When is the Best Time to Sell My Business?“ all the time.  The answer is tricky.  While there are “better” times than others, quite honestly there is no way to tell “the best” time to transfer out of a business.  With that said, there should…

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September 8, 2014

What Could Possibly Go Wrong? The Seller with No Time

By Joseph Eneldas

Last month, I addressed one of the two worst things we’ve seen happen in the M&A world.  In that article, I talked about the worst one: the buyer with no money.  In this installment, I’ll discuss the other awful situation we run quite often – the seller with no time. The “seller with no time”…

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August 7, 2014

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

By Joseph Eneldas

We’re often asked – most often by people who are looking to do business with us – what are the worst things we’ve seen happen in the M&A world.  We all have our experiences and our stories, but two major ones always make it to the top – the buyer with no money and the…

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July 14, 2014

How do you know the value of my business and what kinds of deals are possible?

By Joseph Eneldas

Many business owners have some idea as to the value of their business.  We often hear something like, “My friend had a similar business that he sold for one times sales revenue.”  Or “My brother-in-law had a business which was sold for 3 times cash flow.”  Or, “Businesses in our industry typically sell for 2…

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July 9, 2014

Fund Raising – On the Buy and Sell Side!

By Joseph Eneldas

One recurring theme in recent weeks that we are seeing in the news, as well as in our business interactions is  the continued need for small to mid-sized businesses to obtain funding. “Whereas we have seen banks being more prepared to issue loans these days throughout the region we serve (the corridor generally stretching from…

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May 6, 2014

Don’t hit the Wall – Buy Growth

By Joseph Eneldas

It’s hard to pick up a serious business journal without seeing articles about major corporations targeting substantial M & A activity in the coming year.  Interest rates are still at historical lows and a number of valuable acquisition targets are beginning to become available.  As a result, all of the big boys are heavily involved…