Services
The right buyer may already know the business by heart.
A management buyout, family transition or employee-ownership path can preserve what you built while giving you real liquidity. The hard part is knowing whether the people, the business and the financing can actually support it. We help you find out before anyone commits.
Owner questions
Before you choose the successor, test the transition.
What is the business actually worth?
We’ll develop a defensible view of value before family dynamics, management expectations, or financing constraints begin influencing the number.
Can the business support the deal?
We’ll model debt capacity, working capital, capital needs and seller participation to see what the company can realistically carry after closing.
Are the next owners ready?
Being excellent at running the business doesn’t automatically make someone ready to own it. We assess leadership depth, financial literacy and succession risk.
What do I want after the deal?
A clean break, a transition period, minority ownership or continued involvement. Those choices change the structure.
Three paths
Who should own the business next?
Management buyout
A management buyout can give you liquidity while preserving the leadership, culture and relationships that made the company valuable.
Before structuring the transaction, we test whether the company can support it, whether your goals fit what an MBO can deliver and whether management is ready to move from operating the business to owning it.
If the answer is yes, we structure the transaction, approach appropriate lenders and manage the deal through diligence and closing. If the numbers or the people don’t support it, we tell you before anyone builds a retirement plan around it.
What we evaluate
Company cash flow and debt capacity
Owner liquidity and post-close goals
Management readiness
Seller notes, earnouts and rollover equity
Bank, SBA and other financing options
Family transition
Passing a company to the next generation can look simple from the outside. Inside the family, it rarely is.
The successor may be ready before the owner is. One child may work in the company while another doesn’t. And the value of the business may represent most of the owner’s retirement assets.
An independent process gives everyone something more useful than another opinion around the dinner table. We establish value, test what the business can support and help structure the transfer so the company survives the transition and the relationships can survive it too.
Questions we help resolve
Who should own and operate the company?
How should the business be valued?
How much liquidity does the current owner need?
How do you treat family members who aren’t involved?
What authority transfers, and when?
What role does the current owner keep after closing?
ESOP and employee ownership
For some owners, employee ownership offers an attractive combination of continuity, culture and legacy. But the economics and structure have to work.
We help owners evaluate employee-ownership alternatives and determine whether they belong on the table alongside an MBO, family transition or third-party sale.
Where an existing ESOP is the buyer, we can help evaluate fit, model the transaction, negotiate terms and manage diligence through closing.
What we help evaluate
Business size, cash flow and financing capacity
Management depth and continuity
Valuation and transaction economics
Cultural and strategic fit
Sale to an existing ESOP-owned company
How employee ownership compares with other exit options
What makes it work
The deal has to survive the day after closing.
Sustainable cash flow
The business still has to fund operations, investment and growth after it starts funding the transaction.
Leadership depth
The next owners need to be able to lead without the departing owner quietly continuing to make every important decision.
Defensible value
A well-supported number protects the seller, the buyers, lenders and family members who may not be part of the transaction.
Clear governance
Ownership percentages matter. So do voting rights, decision authority and what happens when the new owners disagree.
Feasibility first
Find out whether the idea works before you try to close it.
An internal transition gets harder once people start treating it as a promise. We separate feasibility from execution so you can make the decision with facts first.
01
Value
Develop a defensible view of value and the range the business can realistically support.
02
Test readiness
Assess the company, the owner and the proposed next owners independently.
03
Compare paths
MBO, family transfer, employee ownership or outside sale. Understand the economics and tradeoffs before choosing.
04
Structure
Build the combination of cash at close, debt, seller financing, earnouts or retained equity around the objectives.
05
Finance
Prepare the financing case, approach appropriate lenders and compare terms the business can live with after closing.
06
Close and transition
Coordinate diligence, advisors, agreements, governance and the actual transfer of responsibility.
Proof
Recent transactions.
450+ closed transactions across manufacturing and healthcare since 2004.
Family-owned industrial contractor
Management buyout
Second-generation transfer
OutcomePrecision sheet-metal fabricator, Western NY
Sold to a strategic acquirer
8 competing offers
OutcomeSix-location dental group, Upstate NY
Recapitalized with a DSO platform
Owner retained 25%
OutcomeSpecialty food manufacturer
Sold to a private-equity platform
Above initial range
OutcomeFAQs
Before we start, owners usually ask these.
Can my management team actually afford to buy the company?
Possibly. An MBO can combine management equity, senior debt, seller financing, earnouts and retained equity. The question is how much debt the business can safely support. We model that before anyone commits to the transaction.
How do I know whether management is ready?
We look beyond job titles. Leadership capability, financial understanding, strategic judgment, credibility with employees and customers, and the ability to operate without you all matter.
How do I keep a family transition fair?
Start with a third-party independent valuation and separate ownership from inheritance. A child working in the company and a child outside it may need different treatment. Your legal and tax advisors determine the final estate structure. We help establish the business economics underneath it.
Is an ESOP right for us?
Sometimes. Size, cash flow, management depth, owner objectives and the complexity of the structure all matter. We’ll help you compare employee ownership with an MBO, family transition or outside sale rather than assuming the answer before the analysis begins.
Could we sell to an existing ESOP instead?
Yes. For some owners, an established ESOP-owned buyer can provide cultural continuity and an employee-ownership environment without requiring you to create and administer a standalone ESOP yourself.
What if the internal transition doesn’t work financially?
Then it’s better to know now. The feasibility work still gives you a valuation, a clearer picture of the business and better information for whatever path you choose next.
Can I stay involved after I sell?
Yes. Your role can range from a clean break to a defined transition, board involvement or retained ownership. We design the transaction around the role you actually want.
You know who you’d like to hand it to. Find out whether it can work.
One confidential conversation can tell you whether an internal transition deserves a closer look, and what we would need to test before you make it a plan.
Confidential and no obligation.