"Business Buyer Advocates" Rescue Private Equity Casualties

By: “Partner” On-Call | 1 Shares 136 Reads

North Palm Beach, FL -- It's the worst of times and the best of times for dealmakers.

Retrenchment by private equity funds means layoffs of M&A experts, lower prices for some businesses and fewer upper mid-market buy/sell transactions - but the downsizing of the private equity industry creates big opportunity for small and midsize deals, according to the Business Buyer Advocates at "Partner" On-Call Network.

"The time could not be better for buyers and sellers of small and midsize businesses," says Ted J. Leverette, president of "Partner" On-Call Network. "Moreover, the safest, fastest, most economical way to grow a small or midsize business is by mergers and acquisitions. It's also the most profitable growth strategy."

Why is this so? Let's consider the problem and then the opportunity.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, "The Ranks of the Comfortable Are Still Thinning," jobs are being slashed at private equity funds and at the consulting firms that facilitate middle market done deals. "In recent years, private equity helped artificially inflate the market. The collateral damage may keep mounting," writes Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Ted Leverette expects some of these elite advisors to join "Partner" On-Call Network, so they can continue dealmaking as a Business Buyer Advocate (which is a consulting niche Leverette created in the 1970s).

Downsizing private equity creates big opportunity for sellers of small and midsize companies. Thousands of big-talent business operators and dealmakers will be unemployed or under-employed. Some of them will seek refuge by acquiring a privately held business they can manage. Using their dealmaking experience, they can have a competitive advantage over other privately held businesses that persist in conducting business as usual. These former private equity hotshots will use M&A techniques to rapidly grow their business - just like they did during their glory days in private equity.

But buyer beware, Leverette cautions. "The easiest sellers to find are rarely the best companies to buy." 80% of mature, profitable and fairly priced companies for sale are found on what Business Week magazine refers to as the "hidden market." These sellers do not advertise and they do not list their business for sale with a business broker or other intermediary. But they are known to "Partner" On-Call Network.

"Some of the refugees from private equity will seek guidance from a POCN Business Buyer Advocate so these impending buyers can avoid buyer competition and access the best businesses quietly for sale by-owner on the "hidden market."

Today, more than 30 years since he got his start, Leverette is the founder and president of "Partner" On-Call Network LLC, a franchised network of business consultants whose menu of services fill a unique and valuable niche in the consulting industry. "Partners" On-Call help clients buy, start, improve, finance, value and sell small and midsize businesses. They also provide post-acquisition service for business buyers to smooth the new owner's transition into their going concern.

POCN is the only business-to-business franchisor of its kind.

A free Business Buyer Protection Report and other free how-to information are available at the POCN website: PartnerOnCall.com.

FRANCHISE INFO
Ted J. Leverette
"Partner" On-Call Network LLC
PartnerOnCall.com