It often begins with a friendly call or email. A larger company, or an investor, says they admire your business and would like to buy it. It is flattering, it is convenient, and it feels like the hard part is done. In many cases, it is where money quietly leaves the table.
A buyer who approaches you directly, with no one else in the running, has every advantage. They set the pace, they anchor the price and they know you have nothing to compare their offer against. Why would they pay their best price when there is no competition forcing them to?
A competitive process changes the balance. When several credible buyers are looking at your business at the same time, each one knows they can be beaten. That tension does more than lift the headline price. It improves the structure of the deal, shortens timelines, reduces the conditions attached and strengthens your position at every turn.
Running that process well is not simply about inviting more people to bid. It is about approaching the right buyers, protecting your confidentiality, presenting the business at its best and managing the tension so it works for you rather than against you. Done properly, it is invisible to the outside world and powerful at the negotiating table.
This is the heart of what a sell side adviser does. Not just to find you a buyer, but to find you the right buyer at the right price, on terms that hold.
Talk to Deal Team International
Has a buyer approached you? Do not respond alone. Book a confidential, no obligation call first and make sure you are getting your true value.
Anthony Monné · anthony@dealteamintl.com