CHICAGO — An Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips team of financial advisory professionals has published “Selling Your Events Business: Strategies for Founders, Owners and Senior Executives,” a guide that details what event business owners should do when selling their companies. Necessary steps and precautions.
Divided into easy-to-digest chapters, the guide details the post-pandemic market landscape, signs an owner is ready to sell, best practices for valuing the business and developing an exit strategy, as well as pitching the business to buyers, negotiation strategies, and navigating the due diligence process and complete the transaction.
trade show director Speak with the guide’s authors Ken Sonenclar, managing director at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips, and Reed Phillips, the firm’s managing partner, about the process of selling an event business and their thoughts on the most important things business owners should know.
Prove value
Both Sonamkra and Phillips emphasized that demonstrating growth and opportunities for growth is important in the process of selling a business.
“Most buyers will pay for a business that is growing and appears to have additional growth opportunities,” Phillips said. “The more you can position your company that way before selling, the better. If a company If it has been declining for the past three years, it will be difficult to enter the market.”
“Experience is really important,” Phillips said. “I think a lot of trade show operators are trying to find new formats that will make them more interesting and attract more attendees; that’s the name of the game. You don’t want the show to be the same old show every year, you want to Want some dazzling surprises.”
The guide includes special considerations in chapters designed to provide business owners with additional context and knowledge, including the impact of sustainability on sales value, the power of artificial intelligence and other technologies in business operations, and the Ancillary business lines. Valuation Chapter.
“Mortgage business can increase value, especially if you only have one show a year,” Sonamkra said. “You want to have a reason to stay connected with your audience year-round, and just sending social media messages may not be enough. There are opportunities; webinars, studies, or other types of products can not only bring in revenue, but are a way to protect your audience. “
The Exit Strategies chapter acknowledges the complexity of healthcare and life sciences activities, as well as the special considerations for hosting buyer events, suppliers and supporting companies. Sonenclar said prices were higher for healthcare and life sciences activities and businesses.
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different types of buyers
In the chapter “Marketing your business to potential buyers,” the guide includes a buyer’s perspective, breaking down the priorities and most important considerations buyers have, depending on whether they are a strategic buyer (think A company with an existing active portfolio looking for market opportunities) or a financial buyer (thinking private equity is focused on strong returns and growth potential for investors).
Regardless of who the buyer is, the pair say the income statement, growth opportunities and positioning, and the overall addressable market are the most important information to report and analyze.
“I would say that in some industries we’re in, we focus on one group (of buyers) or another because they’re the more dominant buyers,” Phillips said. “But when it comes to the trade shows and events we all attend, both are equally important and equally positive.”
rely on experts
“Ken wrote this report with the idea that many owners who own trade show businesses, who may have never sold them before, could use a primer to understand how the process works,” Phillips said. “For them, , it’s important to start thinking about selling your business before you do so. This report gives them a road map on how to sell your company so that you can think ahead about all the things you have to do, rather than just deciding now is the time to sell – and then understand. Everything is what you have to do. There are a lot of tricks in trading, and if you know what they are in advance, you can be prepared.”
While the guide is informative, Sonamkra said it’s also important to work with experts to ensure business owners get the best value for their companies.
“There are a lot of sales opportunities in this industry, but it’s not an easy process,” Sonamkra said. “It should be clear that we are in the business of selling companies, but what we and any other bank would say is that if you want to get the best outcome for a sale, you do need advisers, whether that’s legal advisers, accountants or business advisers ”
Learn more about the guide and download it here.
Contact Ken Sonenclar k.sonenclar@dp.oaklins.com
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