WINTER 2024
Fast forward six weeks and the Trustee finally agreed
to list the business. We were off and running…..
except we weren’t. As I collaborated with the CPA
and Plant Manager to create a Confidential Offering
Memorandum, the Trustee kept denying my
information requests that I felt were important to
sell the business. A�er a few phone calls with him,
the Trustee finally had a change of heart. As soon as
the business hit the market in early 2024, something
happened that I didn’t expect, I had 25-30 plus hits
on the business in just over two weeks (I had over 87
interested parties in total). We fielded seven offers at
this point.
We had to negotiate a few things to finally get an
accepted offer. The Trustee accepted an offer from
an out-of-state buyer who owned a similar company.
Unfortunately, towards the end of their due diligence,
YTD financials came in and both revenue and net
profit were down considerably from the previous year.
That put a scare into the buyers and SBA. Soon a�er
the financials came in, the SBA said they couldn’t
finance the deal, and the buyers terminated their offer.
By now we were in July.
I was fortunate to have 2 other buyers in my back pocket
that were still interested. Fast forward to the middle of
August, one buyer submitted a full-price cash offer with a
closing date set for early October 2024.
We had a few challenges along the road to closing.
A $20,000 air compressor died (which was vital to
production), a few issues popped up with the Landlord,
and the buyer’s a�orney was insistent on the Trustee
providing reps and warranties (which by law they are
not required to). Luckily, we were able to ride out the
storm and close. Everyone was happy!
A FEW OTHER NOTES :
1. Set expectations with whomever you work with
to sell it. Make sure they understand that time is
of the essence. The Trustee owned his own law
practice and was very slow to respond to any of
my calls and emails and to make decisions.
2. Know who the decision maker will be to accept
offers. The Trustee told me he would be making
the decision, but once we had offers on the table,
the Trustee decided to review each of them
with the family. This caused a 2-week delay and
caused some angst with the buyers.
3. If the business is leasing the real estate, try and
get the landlord involved right away. When we
walked through the building about 2 weeks prior
to closing with the buyer and landlord, about
$10k-15k in deferred repairs were discovered (the
previous owner was responsible for the repairs).
This had to be dealt with quickly and resolved
prior to closing.
4. The plant manager proved vital to ge�ing the
deal done. She helped me coordinate building
tours and even met me with a few of the buyers
to give plant tours. She provided insights that the
Trustee did not. She also did some interviews
with the buyers once under contract.
5. The a�orney, whom the Trustee hired to
represent him during the process was invaluable
in the transaction, she acted as a buffer and voice