Sell-side or Buy-side, We’re on Your Side
Let Southard Financial find buyers for your business.
When the time comes to sell your company, there are a multitude of decisions you will need to make. One of the first and most crucial decisions centers on how you will connect with buyers. Southard Financial makes it easier for you by allowing you to work with us exclusively or less formally, so you enjoy more offers or potentially more cost-saving flexibility.
Sell-side agreements offer exclusivity and potentially more buyers.
With this approach, you sign a formal agreement that identifies Southard Financial as your exclusive representative in the sale of your company. That agreement covers all necessary details — including the negotiated fee that you, as the seller, will pay to us at the closing. (The fee is usually set as a percentage of the selling price.)
As your representative in a sell-side agreement, Southard Financial’s primary task is to attract and identify the best offers and bring them to you for consideration. We do so by creating an auction that attracts many potential buyers, collecting and reviewing their bids, and presenting the most viable bids to you. You pick the buyer to which you want to sell your business. We continue to work with you, and the buyer, to bring the transaction to a successful close.
Buy-side arrangements offer greater flexibility and lower costs.
Some sellers would rather not sign with an exclusive advisor or pay a transaction fee but are willing to entertain offers. If you are seeking this type of flexibility, you may wish to establish an informal buy-side arrangement with our firm. With a buy-side arrangement, you allow us to introduce you to carefully selected, pre-approved buyers, but you are not obligated to use our services exclusively or to pay us anything at closing. If we introduce you to a buyer, and the sale goes through, the buyer pays our fee.
Where do we find these buyers? In the course of our years of representing sellers, we have become acquainted with numerous buyers, private equity firms, family offices, and other entities. These individuals and organizations often contact us looking for quality companies to buy in specific industries, and they are willing to compensate us when we initiate introductions that lead to a successful outcome.
Which approach is best? It depends on what you want.
We’ll be happy to talk to you about any plans you may have to sell your company and help you sort out the pros and cons — but only you can decide which approach is right for you. Just keep the basics in mind: With a sell-side agreement, you should see more offers because we are actively working to attract potential buyers, but you have to pay a fee at closing; a buy-side arrangement may possibly save you money at closing, but you may not see all potential bidders because they are not being actively recruited as they would be in a sell-side process.
Start your sales arrangement with the right advisor: Southard Financial
To initiate a conversation about selling your company and how we can help, call Southard Financial at (901) 761-7500, use the form on our contact page, or reach out to us on social media.
