Business Exit Planning
Selling a Metal Shaping Business
We hear from a lot of business owners who are timid about listing their metal shaping business. Despite the mood of the market, we think there are still opportunities to receive a good price for your metal shaping business. Here's what you need to know . . .
Cutting corners never pays off, especially in the sale of a metal shaping business.
Too often metal shaping business owners fail to receive fair market value for their businesses. Smart sellers know the value of their companies are prepared to identify buyers who are willing to pay top dollar.
Timing the Market
Timing is everything when it comes to selling a metal shaping business. With interest rates at all-time lows, it's easy to see why metal shaping businesses are an appealing investment opportunity for savvy investors. When the economy recovers there will be more metal shaping business buyers on the market, but higher interest rates could present challenges. So we see market timing as a concern that can be easily mitigated by applying fundamental sales strategies and adequately preparing your company for buyers.
Seller Financing
Capital is hard to come by these days. Financial institutions have tightened up their lending policies, making it difficult for inexperienced and undercapitalized entrepreneurs to buy metal shaping businesses. As a result, buyers expect sellers to finance a significant portion of the sale. It's common for sellers to finance as much as 70% of the purchase price with a payoff period of four or five years, sometimes in the form of a balloon payment at the end of the repayment period.
Signs You're in Over Your Head
The metal shaping business-for-sale marketplace is a mixed bag of brokered sales and solo efforts. Although there are exceptions, solo sales typically take longer and are less productive than brokered sales. As a rule, no business should sit on the market for more than six months without attracting the interest of at least a handful of qualified buyers. Lack of buyer enthusiasm or persistence indicates that something is wrong. The remedy is professional brokerage or a consultation with more experienced sellers.
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