If you as a business owner are going through the process of selling your business or completing a dividend recapitalization, your advisor will have experience guiding you through the process of developing a plan for managing the liquidity generated. The table below shows how an owner’s personal financial planning aligns with investment banking process.

Investment Banking Goals Private Wealth Management Goals
Advisor Selection Building a team of trusted advisors
  • Investment bankers
  • Attorneys
  • Accountants
  • Consultants for quality of earnings reports and market assessments
 Find an advisor with experience guiding business owners through liquidity events and structuring transactions in a tax-efficient manner
Preparation Gathering information for potential buyers
  • Determine outreach strategy and timing
  • Draft offering memorandums, pitch books, and financial models
  • Begin creating data room
  • Identify goals and priorities related to new wealth
  • Begin assessing tax consequences of potential transactions
  • Identify opportunities to minimize transaction proceeds’ tax exposure
  • Review estate planning documents
  • Implement wealth transfer strategies to take advantage of valuation discounts and to avoid assignment of income
Marketing Contacting potential buyers
  • Send marketing materials to universe of potential buyers
  • Collect non-disclosure agreements
  • Review initial indications of interest
 
Due Diligence Answering buyers’ questions
  • Determine which bidders are invited to next round
  • Conduct management presentations
  • Give access to data rooms
  
Best & Final Choosing the right partner
  • Review final offers and purchase agreements
  • Determine which offer is the most attractive in terms of price, certainty of close, and cultural fit
  • Analyze final offers in terms of tax consequences, earn-outs, rollovers, vesting, and timing
  • Establish proceeds account and escrow account for taxes
  • Implement comprehensive wealth management plan—including short-term interest strategy for taxes, funding wealth transfer, and charitable vehicles—and begin portfolio deployment
Signing & Closing Finalizing the transaction
  • Sign final documents
  • Clear anti-trust review
  • Transfer funds