Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory Services

In today’s marketplace, Merger and Acquisition activities continue as an important means of increasing private corporations’ shareholder values. Sunbelt provides private mid to lower mid-market companies with comprehensive Merger and Acquisition advisory & consultancy services. Our intermediaries have experience in advising thousands of client companies in their acquisition and divestiture objectives. Sunbelt maintains contact and relationships with over strategic buyers and financial buyers throughout the US and across the world.

If you have considered selling your business or desire to know the current market value or wish to explore exit strategies, our Intermediaries are available to assist you in understanding and demystifying the M&A process and the options that may be available to you.

Please call 408.436.1900 from the hours of 8:30 am to 5:00 pm PST to determine if your business is ready, and we will answer any questions you may have.

Sunbelt’s M&A advisors use a proven & systematized processes to manage the course of selling businesses. Each transaction is evaluated for its unique qualities and a plan is developed to bring the greatest efficiencies to bear in meeting client objectives.
Our first step is to meet the client and advisers, if possible, and to evaluate the potential assignment. With all things “go”, Sunbelt with its M&A advisory team will provide you with our engagement letter, defining the scope of the assignment and the various terms (Engagement). Once in place, we will conduct the research to produce the platform in which all further actions and decisions will be made (Sell-Side Due Diligence).

This process is a team effort designed to identify the strategic assets of your business. We assist our clients in developing a thirty thousand foot view of the business to identifying and prioritizing the critical value drivers of the business. This is, in effect, determining the intrinsic value to understand the extrinsic value (Market Value). That is, what are potential buyers looking for and how does the business currently meet those demands and how will it continue to do so in the future.

Sunbelt will coordinate with your CPA and tax adviser to help determine what are the best approaches to a successful sale transaction for the business. In most cases the business will be transferred in an Asset Sale; however, if the nature of the business (C-corporation, State licensing, etc.) or the buyer requires a Stock Sale, Sunbelt stands ready with our Co-owner Investment Banker to handle the securities through Still Point Capital, member of FINRA/SiPC.

Before a business is presented to the market place, an independent Valuation of the business is emphatically advised. Sunbelt will recommend well qualified valuation firms who will work directly with you as we assist them in developing realistic market based values. This valuation will primarily be used internally to better understand the current Market and then to draft the Confidential Information Memorandum or CIM (aka Confidential Business review/CBR). Preparing the document will be done in coordination with you and/or your management team and is an involved process requiring time; however the CBR will become the prime marketing tool that buyers require before considering an acquisition.

Simultaneously, as the valuation is being drafted and the CBR is well under way, the next steps will be to create the Marketing Plan. The Sunbelt M&A advisory team will coordinate with you to generate the plan which will be used to define timelines and subsequent critical action points and other expected procedures for all involved. First will be defining the Buyer Universe. We work with our clients to identify the most likely buyers who may come from private equity groups, strategic buyers, financial buyers or even off-shore entities. Even before presentation to the Market, Sunbelt will use a custom confidential profile sheet to be seen by up to 1,500 PEGs. Interested parties will be collated and contacted to determine the strength and depth of the potential market.
Once the prime list is completed, we will produce a Confidential Teaser (Blind Summary) with further details to be circulated to the market in either a targeted auction or broad auction, depending on our findings and client needs. As inquiries are received, potential buyers will be interviewed and required to sign a Non-Disclosure/Confidentiality Agreement prior to receiving any further information.

In the case of a broad auction, the most common method, Candidates will be reviewed and further discussions will be had along with Buyer/Seller conferences. A tighter select number, of prospective buyers will be invited to visit your facilities to meet the Owner and team, then conduct on-site due diligence (Buyers’ Due Diligence). Confidentiality will be maintained by managing this process with discreet meetings, after hour conferences, on-line data rooms and multiple other procedures. Depending on the size of the business and market demand, Management Presentations may be useful and will require management team, CPAs and attorneys to attend; however this is generally applicable to focused auctions for upper mid-market entities.

Frequently, offers in the form of Letters of Interest, will be scheduled for receipt on a specified date. The offers will be reviewed, collated and presented to you, the client, with our recommendations. We will work alongside you and your advisers to assist in determining the best next steps including, for instance, tax consequences, strategies and even which buyers are most likely to get to the closing table.
Whether reviewing multiple offers or individual offers, Sunbelt will continue throughout the process to assist your consultants and advisers to achieve the best possible results. Our team and your team will coordinate the proper responses to bring the best offer forward.

The successful bidder will then execute a final, more detailed, Letter of Intent schedule an appropriate amount of time for their due diligence. Sunbelt will set up a Data Room, if applicable, to facilitate the review of confidential documents and maintaining of schedules. Both Seller’s and Buyer’s attorneys will take the lead in drafting and final negotiation of the Definitive Agreement. Our team will assist with your review and document compilation process will work with all parties involved to resolve any open issues and consummate a successful transaction.

Areas We Serve

Sunbelt Business Brokers, Greater Bay Area can help with business valuation and M&A transactions in Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County, San Mateo County, So. Alameda County, Silicon Valley CA and beyond.

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