Although it deserves great respect for its many years of service, the Rolodex no longer suffices as the sole means of deal sourcing and marketing. That’s why Cole | Bishop gives our client’s access to the world’s more curated & proprietary deal flow for buy-side interests.
Cole | Bishop sources deals from more than 3,800 investment banks and private equity funds worldwide. It also connects to more than 7,000 member firms and 12,000 M&A professionals.
Buy Side Representation
For individuals and companies seeking to acquire a business, Cole Bishop works to clearly define an acquisition strategy, emphasizing the client’s strengths, including industry experience and financial resources. Cole Bishop then focuses the acquisition search by defining the attributes of the target company, including size, location, and industry. Once these specific attributes are defined, Cole Bishop contacts potential candidates to initiate a dialogue as to their desire to exit the business. Once preliminary interest to move forward has been established, Cole Bishop then obtains and analyzes the relevant financial information of the target to develop an offer to acquire the company. Once the offer has been negotiated and accepted, Cole Bishop assists the buyer through the due diligence process, and ultimately the close of the transaction.
Sell Side Representation
Cole Bishop provides a broad range of services in the mergers & acquisitions area. When assisting in the sale of a business, Cole Bishop begins by conducting preliminary discussions prior to the engagement. During these discussions, we explore the goals and objectives of the selling shareholders, including valuation expectations and desired outcomes in non-financial areas. We help educate the parties about the steps involved in completing a transaction, as well as what to expect during the process.
Once a decision to sell has been reached, a formal engagement triggers the next step in the process. This step involves performing an evaluation of the business, including an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the company, its operational and management structure, and its historical and expected future performance. At this stage in the process, we attempt to identify value drivers that we can use to enhance the overall outcome for the seller. This information is organized into a confidential selling memorandum that is intended to answer those questions most often asked by buyers, and highlight the attributes of the company.
With the assistance of management, our expert team then compiles a list of potential buyers and develops a strategy to attract those buyers that are likely to bring the maximum value to the opportunity. Cole Bishop works with these buyers to enable them to present offers, which ensure the highest price at the best possible terms for our clients. In many cases, we are able to foster an auction environment to improve our negotiating position and maximize the overall outcome of the transaction.
In situations where the parties to the transaction are already known, we provide assistance with transaction structuring and negotiation. We support our negotiating position with in-depth analysis based on supportable data. This approach has resulted in an enhancement in the purchase price of many of our clients in cases where the buyer had already been identified prior to our involvement.
In those instances where boards of directors deems it advisable, we also have the capability to provide fairness opinions which help them determine whether the transaction is fair to all of the shareholders.
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