We work with companies and their shareholders to maximize the value they will receive for their company.
The decision to sell all or part of your closely-held company is one of the most difficult decisions an owner or Board of Directors has to make. Stone Pier can provide independent, objective, professional input during the assessment process, ensuring that all potential strategies have been thoroughly evaluated.
- Part of this assessment process will include the question: Are the shareholder(s) better served to sell all or part of the Company?
Every situation is different. In many cases, due to health, age, and/or other reasons, the best decision is to sell the Company. However, in other circumstances the stakeholders may be better served to sell part of the Company to a sophisticated buyer who will provide resources and expansion capital. The combination of the seller’s relationships and expertise with expanded resources can create a significantly more valuable enterprise in three to five years, enabling the seller(s) to initially take some money “off the table” and later to participate in the enhanced value. The additional benefits to the seller(s) include asset and estate diversification, elimination of the need to personally guarantee debt, and gaining a professional, well financed partner. Our point is: Stone Pier will not come to the table with a pre-defined “one solution fits all” approach. Your business and personal situation are unique. We pledge to work to understand your company, your needs, your objectives in order to design an approach that serves you and the rest of the company’s stakeholders.
- Stone Pier’s partners begin each engagement with the perspective of a fiduciary.
Working with accounting or legal professionals, wealth managers, exit planners or other trusted advisors, we are often brought in to discuss and explore the potential sale of a company, examining all possible options, alternatives, and approaches, before ownership makes the final decision. Stone Pier works to determine the owners’ goals, and then ensures that ownership has considered and understands each potential pathway to that goal, whether it be a complete sale, a partial sale, a recapitalization, an ESOP, or another structure.
- One example of our fiduciary approach:
An accounting firm referred one of its client companies to us for the purpose of assisting in the sale of the company to facilitate the retirement of a 40% shareholder. After understanding the company and other interests of both shareholders, rather than implementing a sale process, we recommended the redemption of the retiring shareholder on terms that balanced the needs and desires of both shareholders. Although Stone Pier therefore would not earn a success fee on a sale, a redemption was in our client’s best interest. The remaining shareholder had a 100 percent-owned “sister” company in a similar industry, and we recommended in effect a combination of the two companies to create a larger, more valuable enterprise. Years later, in 2021, Stone Pier was selected to source and evaluate offers for the larger “combined” company, resulting in a highly successful sale for ownership and continued growth and opportunity for employees.
- Stone Pier’s sell-side services focus on finding the best purchaser for the client company and achieving the best deal possible for ownership, whether the entire company or a portion thereof is being sold.
For many owners, that means the highest price and the most advantageous terms. For others, especially in the case of family-owned companies, it means a great deal not only for the selling shareholders but also for the company, its employees, and other stakeholders. The “best” purchaser can be located locally, nationally, or internationally, and Stone Pier has multiple examples of each.
- Stone Pier works with companies and their shareholders from the planning stage through the post-acquisition stage, assisting and guiding them throughout the sale process.
We have decades of experience, have worked on hundreds of transactions, and have a strong track record of securing superior value for our clients.
A sell-side process, done in a disciplined, professional manner, will often take six to twelve months depending upon the size of the company, the industry, and other factors. During this period, the best thing for owners and operators to do is to continue to work at the business and ensure that revenue and profitability remain strong. Many executive teams get caught up in the highs and lows of a transaction, only to learn the deal will not close due to a recent material decline in revenue or profit margin. In order to facilitate a situation whereby management and ownership are able to continue operational success during the sale process, Stone Pier leads and coordinates the sale effort, keeping all necessary parties informed the entire time and bringing key decisions to ownership for approval. Management and ownership will be involved and in control of the sale process, but not consumed by it. Stone Pier works with its clients from conception to closing. We stay involved post-closing to assist as necessary.