We deliver industry-leading success rates and guide you through every step with precision, confidentiality, and proven expertise.

Yes. We can structure insider transactions in a way that preserves relationships and maximizes your value.

We perform a professional, market-driven valuation based on financials, market comparables, growth potential, and other key factors.

Profitability, growth trends, customer diversity, recurring revenue, management depth, industry conditions, and more all play a role.

Private investors, strategic buyers, private equity firms, competitors, and sometimes your own management team could be ideal buyers.

Most Likely! Lion Business Advisors has ongoing relationships with active buyers in most industries. However, the M&A marketplace is subject to constant change as market conditions cause buyers to become sellers and sellers to become buyers. Because we are always in the market, LBA knows who’s buying at a premium and what deals can get financing. If we don’t already know enough good candidates, we will conduct a dedicated search to identify and qualify new prospects.

Our proven 7-Step Lion Selling Process covers valuation, marketing preparation, buyer sourcing, deal structuring, negotiation, due diligence, and closing.

We can help you professionally structure, negotiate, and close the deal to ensure you get the best terms and avoid costly mistakes.

Selling a business is complex. We protect confidentiality, maximize sale price, vet buyers, and manage negotiations so you can focus on running your business.

No problem. We offer exit planning consultations to help you prepare for a future sale and maximize your business’s value over time.

Poor preparation, mispricing, poor confidentiality management, and lack of buyer qualification are the most common and costly mistakes.

Ideally, 1-3 years before you plan to sell. The earlier, the better to optimize valuation and address any weak points.

We offer a free Readiness Assessment to help you determine where you stand and what adjustments could boost your valuation.

We utilize strict NDAs, controlled information releases, and targeted buyer outreach to protect your company’s confidentiality at all times.

At Lion Business Advisors, we understand that the sensitive nature of each transaction requires total confidentiality. Employees, clients, suppliers, and the competition don’t need to know your intentions until you are ready to announce that a deal has closed. We guard your proprietary information: executing confidentiality agreements with every qualified prospective buyer, seller, or third party financing source. Furthermore, we don’t provide comprehensive information about our listings just because someone has signed a confidentiality or nondisclosure agreement. We start with preliminary summary information and provide more detail on an “as needed” basis only when appropriate.

At Lion, we believe selling a business is a “Team Sport”.  You will be assigned a dedicated senior advisor as your main point of contact, supported by a team of specialists. 

The fees and expenses of Lion Business Advisors are specific to the services required for the engagement and the size of the business. We do discuss all fees up-front, prior to any process, and everything is always available in writing. 

We are available, at your convenience, to speak with you by phone or we offer a complimentary in-person consultation to determine the level of service required to accomplish your goals and objectives.

Yes. To maintain the highest level of confidentiality and maximize results, we work exclusively with sellers during the listing period.

We serve business owners across the United States, with local and regional expertise to navigate each market’s nuances.

We can value your business, market it, find buyers, negotiate, and assist in due diligence. We cannot provide legal or tax advice directly, but we coordinate with your advisors.

Most businesses sell within 6-12 months. Timing depends on price, market conditions, business performance, and buyer pool.

Offering seller financing can expand your buyer pool and often result in a faster sale at a better price.

It can also be a great way to offset the initial tax liabilities of the sale of your business. *Make sure you consult your CPA prior to signing any seller financing documents to ensure accuracy. 

Maintain strong financial records, demonstrate growth potential, stay focused on business performance, and be flexible during negotiations.

Due diligence is the verification of all representations made by the seller upon which an offer has been based. Due diligence is not initiated until after an offer has been accepted and a letter of intent has been executed. Sellers can expect buyers to exhaustively review all clinical, operational, and financial records. For most sellers this process should require a few representatives of the buyer to spend a week or so at the corporate headquarters of the seller. The buyer should then immediately conduct a final analysis of all pertinent information and proceed to the negotiation of the definitive purchase agreement with the seller. If due diligence verifies the representations of the seller, the definitive purchase agreement should reflect the price and terms agreed upon in the letter of intent. The price and terms may be renegotiated up or down after due diligence if new concerns are discovered or if the process takes so long that the performance of the company warrants a change to the originally agreed upon price and terms.

The most commonly used metric for valuation analysis is EBITDA. In the case of a private company with significant personal (e.g. country club dues, fancy cars, etc.) or non-recurring expenses (e.g. fire, lawsuit, etc.), it is appropriate to calculate an adjusted EBITDA and to present a recast or restated financial statement that reflects the normalized financial characteristics of the company along with the actual numbers. However, it is absolutely imperative to disclose, explain, and defend each assumption used to adjust the actual EBITDA in a clear, honest and forthright manner.

In a stock sale, the seller sells the actual corporation including all assets and liabilities, usually including cash, accounts receivable, bank debt, and all IRS/CMS liabilities. In an asset purchase, the buyer only buys certain core assets of the company, usually leaving the seller with the cash, accounts receivable and all liabilities associated with the company. Whether a transaction is a asset purchase or a stock sale, who actually gets what assets and liabilities at closing is entirely negotiable. Because of the risk associated with contingent liabilities, many (but not all) transactions are asset deals. In all cases, it is extremely important to consult with a qualified tax advisor and an experienced transactional attorney before entering into any binding agreements.