Will 2013 See Record Valuations For Middle Market Business Sales?
John Slater | Mar 07, 2013 08:48AM ET
Business owners time their exits for many reasons: health, retirement planning, availability or lack of family successors, competition, technology change, and many more. Yet, overwhelmingly, the question we are most often asked as a financial advisor to entrepreneurial companies is: “What’s my business worth?”
All things being equal, a rational business owner will presumably choose to sell at a point of optimal value for his or her interest in the firm. For the reasons outlined below, we believe that the next eighteen months may see the highest pricing for good middle market companies in the thirty years I have been in the M&A advisory business.
Historically, the market for mergers and acquisitions is one of the most volatile on the globe. In our experience, the market is very cyclical with three to four years separating peaks and troughs and six or seven years to cover a full cycle. The last bull cycle for M&A peaked in 2006-2007 and the market trough was witnessed in 2009-2010. Moderate improvement was witnessed in 2011 and 2012, with Q4 2012 being particularly strong. 2012 was FOCUS’s best year since 2007.
Barclays and Business Insider
2013 started with a bang with large announced deals for Dell, Heinz, and Virgin Media just to name a few. Original post
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