5 Ways to Maximize the Value of Your Vocational School
If you own a vocational school, it’s important to understand the ways you can maximize the value of your school when you sell.
Over the last 12 months, there has been a lot of mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activity in the education sector. COVID forced schools to adopt distance learning, which has completely changed the operating model for well-run schools. Schools are now able to deliver high-quality educational outcomes without geographic restrictions or needing to invest in expensive brick and motor classrooms. This has allowed vocational schools to increase revenues while decreasing costs.
Strategic buyers dominated education sector M&A activity in 2020 and early 2021, but private equity groups and sophisticated investors are now seeing vocational schools with distance learning platforms as a new technology-enabled service platform, like EdTech.
If you own a vocational school and are thinking of selling, now may be a good time to explore your options. Unfortunately, many owners miss out on maximizing the value of their schools because they are unfamiliar with what buyers look for. Here are five things you can do to help you ensure you receive top dollar for your vocational school when you decide to sell.
Understand Who the Most Likely Buyers Are for Your School
Buyers of businesses with revenues of $1 million or less tend to be individuals who live within a 50-mile radius of the company they are interested in. However, as the size of your school increases, strategic buyers become more interested —and these buyers are typically not local. For vocational schools with revenues of $5 million and up, financial buyers, like private equity groups, as well as strategic buyers become interested.
What does this mean for you? If you own a vocational school with $1 million or less in revenues, your buyers—besides being local—will likely be first-time business owners, who are essentially looking to buy a job. As a result, your marketing materials and sales pitch should address the concerns these buyers have.
However, owners of larger businesses should be prepared to address the concerns of more sophisticated, financially-driven buyers. That means to maximize your sales price for your school, you will need to develop an offering package, including a pitch book, a financial model, and set up a virtual data room, complete with detailed historical financial statements and other information these buyers will ask for.
Understand the Value of Your Vocational School from a Buyer’s Perspective
Did you know that 80% of privately-owned companies that are listed for sale, don’t sell? The number one reason most schools don’t sell is that the seller has an unrealistic expectation of value.
As a result, one of the most important things you can do before starting the sales process is talk with an M&A advisor who has extensive experience selling vocational schools. They can provide you with an objective, third-party opinion of value using the same methodologies that buyers use. An M&A advisor who is active in the education sector can also give you advice and guidance on pricing trends in the industry and value drivers.
The more educated you are about the M&A market and vocational school valuation principles, the more likely you are to be successful when you sell your vocational school.
Set Personal and Financial Goals
An essential step in ensuring a successful exit is to have a clear idea about how much money you need to meet your financial goals. While this number is not related to the value of your school, it will help you evaluate opportunities and make the right decision.
For example, if you know you need $3 million, after-tax, to retire, and your school is valued at $2 million, it may not make sense to sell now. It may make more sense to spend the next 2-3 years preparing your school for sale so you can increase its value and meet your financial goals. Have an honest conversation with your financial advisor or wealth manager and do some retirement planning to figure out what you need to retire before you decide to sell your school.
Use the Right Process to Maximize the Value of Your School
The best process to use to sell your school depends on its size and market appeal. If your school has less than $2 million in revenue, the best process is the traditional business brokerage approach that includes listing the company on multiple M&A websites and responding to buyers when they request additional information.
However, for companies with over $2 million in revenues, it may make sense to run a controlled auction process. In this case, your M&A advisor will put together a targeted list of financial and strategic buyers that may have an interest in your company.
He will contact them directly and send them with a teaser that provides an overview of your school, but without disclosing its name or other identifying information. If buyers are interested, the broker will have them sign a nondisclosure agreement and send them a formal offering package.
A typical marketing program for a vocational school might involve contacting 100-200 potential buyers simultaneously. The goal here is to get as many buyers as possible looking at your company at the same time and to make them aware they are in a competitive process.
This has several advantages. First, it speeds up the transaction timeline, ensuring a faster and more efficient closing. Second, it ensures buyers put their best offers on the table first because they know other buyers are also bidding. Last, it provides you with negotiating leverage because you will most likely have multiple offers to choose from at the end of the process.
Don’t Take Your Eye Off the Ball, Get Help
Regardless of the size of your vocational school, the most important thing you can do is work with an M&A advisor to run the sales process. Running a sell-side process is time-consuming and you don’t want anything to distract you from the day-to-day operation of your school because a dip in revenues or net income during the sales process can have a big impact on the value of your business.
Selling a vocational school may be the single most important decision in your lifetime, so make sure you work with someone who is an expert in the process and can coach you along the way.
By Rich Jackim, Managing Partner at Jackim Woods & Co.
Jackim Woods & Co. is a leading mergers & acquisitions advisor focused on providing senior-level attention and flawless execution to clients in the education sector nationwide.
Rich Jackim is an experienced mergers and acquisitions advisor and a retired mergers and acquisitions attorney. He has over 20 years of experience advising owners of middle-market companies and their boards of directors on mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. During his career, Rich has been involved in over 70 mergers or acquisitions of middle-market companies worth over $2 billion. Rich is also the author of the critically acclaimed book, The $10 Trillion Opportunity: Designing Successful Exit Strategies for Middle Market Business Owners.
To arrange a free, confidential conversation about your options, please contact Rich Jackim at (224) 513-5142 or rjackim@jackimwoods.com.
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Year-End Checklist for Selling a Business in 2022
If you are thinking of selling your business in 2022 (or even 2025), taking the time now to get prepared and organized, will save time and effort in the future.
Here is a list of 12 things every business owner should review each year:
1) Financials: Every year, try to improve the quality and timeliness of your company’s financial reporting. The year-end is a good time to talk with your CPA about how to clean up your profit and loss statement and balance sheet and eliminate any line items that are no longer relevant. Work with your CPA to document and categorize any one-time expenses or personal expenses, so your CPA and your M&A advisor can help you calculate an accurate adjusted EBITDA for your business.
2) Due Diligence Checklist: Build a relationship with an M&A advisor and ask for an example of a basic due diligence checklist. Have someone in your company assemble as many of the items as possible and store scanned copies in a digital file storage area like Google Drive or Dropbox. This will save you an enormous amount of time and stress, especially if a great buyer suddenly shows up at your door. Work on it a little bit at a time (or delegate it) so it is not overwhelming.
3) Delegate: Think about your business and life goals. Are there things you want to achieve but have not been able to do because you are too busy doing other things? One way to improve the value of your business is to enable it to run without you. As a business owner, your role is to be a strategic planner and visionary. That means you need to delegate as much of your operating responsibilities as possible. Think about what you can delegate in the coming year.
4) M&A Advisor: Check in with an M&A advisor who you trust to discuss market trends, multiples, the pros and cons of your business, and get a valuation done. You should ask your M&A advisor to update your valuation every year so that you can make informed decisions about your options.
5) Sales and Marketing: Step back and consider your company’s overall sales and marketing strategy. If something is not working, try something new. Eliminate programs that aren’t working. Document everything so you can describe the strategy to a potential buyer.
6) Reduce Expenses: Have someone review expenses. Everything from paper costs to insurance premiums. Get new estimates on all major expenses. Every dollar you save goes to the bottom line, which is multiplied by the deal at the time of the sale. So if you can reduce your expenses by $20,000 next year, the value of your business increases between $60,000 and $140,000 depending on the industry you’re in and the size of your business.
7) Website, Social Media: If your website looks like it was made in 1998, it is time to invest in a new one. While we all know not to judge a book by its cover, most new customers and potential buyers judge you based on how your business presents itself online. So make sure your website looks professional, has accurate information, and works. If you have news, blogs, or social media posts, make sure they are up to date.
8) Tax Planning: Check in with your CPA and attorney to explore what you can be doing now to reduce or eliminate any capital gains taxes that will be due when you sell your business. Effective tax planning takes time but can save you a lot of money in the end.
9) Inventory: Make sure your inventory is current. Write off and get rid of any obsolete inventory.
10) Maintenance & Cleaning: Look at your business through a buyer’s eyes. Does anything need to be painted, cleaned, or thrown out? If a buyer called and wanted to meet with you tomorrow, would your business show well? Also, your employees will appreciate working in a clean, well-lit, and positive environment.
11) Financial Planning: Talk with your financial advisor to determine how much you need to net from the sale of your business in order to meet your financial goals. This does not affect the value of your business, but it does
12) Check in with your kids: The holidays are a good time to have an honest and open conversation with your kids about their goals and to see if they would be interested in taking over your business. Don’t wait until you’re ready to sell, to find out your kids always thought they would take over the family business.
It is not possible to address every item on this list at once. But, if you address one or two items a month, it will help improve the value of your company and make selling your business in 2022 much smoother.
Rich Jackim, is the founder of Jackim Woods & Co and the Exit Planning Institute. He’s also the author of The $10 Trillion Opportunity – Designing Success Exit Strategies for Middle Market Businesses.
If you are thinking of selling your business in 2022, contact Rich for a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation to learn about your options.
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Valuations for Title IV Schools and Training Companies at Record Highs
Valuations for vocational schools and training companies are at record highs now. As business performance rebounds, buyers are competing for strong performing businesses. That has led to an increase in the number of education-related businesses that were sold in Q3 of 2021. The number of education deals that closed in the third quarter increased 17% over the previous quarter, and 11% from the same quarter in 2020, according to Jackim Woods & Co, which tracks and analyzes vocational school and training company sale transactions.
2021 Education Industry Seller Confidence Index
Valuations for vocational schools and training companies are at record highs now because seller confidence is up. As the economy rebounds, owners of vocational schools and training companies are returning to the market, feeling more confident they can sell their schools and training companies for a good price and less willing to wait until the COVID pandemic is over. Seller confidence increased to 57 out of 70; that’s up from 45 in 2020. This is the highest seller confidence level since the high of 58 in 2018. Today 49% of the respondents believe they can receive a higher sale price for their school or training company today compared to a year ago, and 46% of respondents said the top factor motivating their confidence was an improvement in enrollment and revenue.
The average revenue for vocational schools and training businesses that were sold in the third quarter was $755,000, up 6% from the same time last year. Meanwhile, buyers of education-related businesses, especially Title IV schools, are paying record-high prices for businesses that performed well during the pandemic. The average sale price in the third quarter hit a new high of $1,780,000; that’s 17% higher than the previous year and 40% above pre-pandemic levels.
With current valuations above where they were pre-pandemic, many school owners are thinking now may be the right time to exit.
2021 Education Industry Buyer Confidence Index
Valuations for vocational schools and training companies are also at record highs because buyer confidence is up. Buyers noted that there is a limited supply of profitable well-run schools and training businesses on the market. In addition, several buyers noted that because of the shift to online learning, schools will be able to expand their geographic reach while reducing the cost of delivering educational services. The combination of these two factors signals significant growth opportunities and higher margins for well-run schools and training companies in the future. As a result, buyer confidence increased to 60, up significantly from 48 in 2020 and only slightly above the buyer confidence level of 59 in 2018.
It is interesting to note that demand for high-performing vocational schools and training businesses is increasing. According to Rich Jackim, Managing Partner of Jackim Woods & Co., “buyer inquiries on our education-related listings are up 39% since the same time last year. However, many business owners are putting off selling until their schools or training companies have fully recovered, so the supply of profitable, well-run schools is still limited. This is driving up values and makes it a sellers’ market.”
If you are beginning to think about selling your training business or Title IV vocational school and would like to explore your options, please contact Rich Jackim at rjackim@jackimwoods.com for a FREE, confidential, no-obligation consultation.
Read MoreBusiness Valuations at Record Highs in Q3 2021
As business performance rebounds, buyers are competing for strong performing businesses. That has led to an increase in the number of businesses that were acquired in Q3 of 2021. The number of closed transactions in the third quarter increased 17% over the previous quarter, and 11% from the same quarter in 2020, according to BizBuySell’s Insight Report, which tracks and analyzes U.S. business sale transactions. The report also includes an analysis of survey responses from over 2,000 business owners, business buyers, and business brokers.
2021 Seller Confidence Index
As the economy rebounds, sellers are returning to the market, feeling more confident they can sell their businesses for a good price and less willing to wait until the COVID pandemic is over. Seller confidence increased to 57 out of 70, up from 45 in 2020. This is the highest seller confidence level since the high of 58 in 2018. 49% of the respondents believe they can receive a higher sale price today compared to a year ago, and 46% of respondents said the top factor motivating their confidence was improved sales or revenue.
The average revenue for businesses sold in the third quarter was $671,000, up 6% from the same time last year. Meanwhile, buyers are paying record-high prices for businesses that have continued to perform well during the pandemic. The average sale price in the third quarter hit a new high of $350,000; that’s 17% above the previous year and 40% above pre-pandemic levels.
With current business valuations higher than they were pre-pandemic, many business owners are thinking now may be the right time to exit.
2021 Buyer Confidence Index
Buyers noted that there is a limited supply of profitable well-run businesses on the market and they regret missing out on buying last year while prices were lower. As a result, buyer confidence fell to 48 out of 70, down significantly from 60 in 2020 and slightly above the buyer confidence level of 47 in 2018.
It is interesting to note that demand for high-performing businesses is increasing. According to Rich Jackim, Managing Partner of Jackim Woods & Co., “buyer inquiries on our listings are up 33% since the same time last year. However, many business owners are putting off selling until their businesses fully recover, so the supply of profitable, well-run businesses is still limited. This is driving up values and makes it a sellers’ market.”
If you are beginning to think about selling your business and would like to explore your options, please contact Rich Jackim at rjackim@jackimwoods.com for a FREE, confidential, no-obligation consultation.
Read MoreSellers Command Record Prices, Seller Confidence Grows as Buyers Compete for Deals
The number of businesses that were acquired continued to rebound with the number of closed transactions in the third quarter up 17% over the previous quarter and up over 11% year-over-year. That’s according to BizBuySell’s Q3 Insight Report, which tracks and analyzes U.S. business-for-sale transactions.
Sellers are returning to the market, feeling more confident they can receive a good price and less willing to wait as the effects of the COVID pandemic linger on, including supply chain disruptions and staffing shortages.
Seller confidence index increased to 57 in 2021, up from 45 in 2020, which is the highest mark since the high of 58 in 2018. Of those surveyed, 49% of business owners felt they could receive a higher sale price today compared to a year ago, and 46% said the top factor that influenced their decision to sell was improved sales and revenue.
“The number of active sellers in the market is still lower than in previous years, but we have definitely seen an uptick in new clients since 2020. The shortage of good companies for sale, combined with low interest rates and a stock market at all-time highs has driven up the value of the companies that are currently for sale,” said Richard Jackim, Managing Partner of Jackim Woods & Co.
Read MoreNumber of Acquisitions in Education Sector Soars in 2021
The total value of mergers and acquisitions in the education sector increased by more than 50% from the second half of 2020 to the second half of 2021, as companies across the industry rushed to add education-related companies to their portfolios, according to a report by mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, Jackim Woods & Co.
Jackim Woods & Co. is a mergers and acquisitions firm that provides advice and financial consulting to middle-market companies in the education sector.
The overall number of individual M&A transactions also rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
Buyers of education companies closed 210 mergers in the first half of 2020, and 240 acquisitions during the first six months of 2021.
The total value of acquisitions in the education sector between January and June was $19.4 billion, largely driven by Platinum Equity’s $6.4-billion acquisition of McGraw Hill, the report noted.
The market value of deals closed during the first half of 2021 had almost as much market value as all the deals closed during all of 2020.
Private equity-sponsored transactions accounted for 40% of deals during the first six months of 2021. That’s 8% higher than the average number of private equity-backed deals for the last three years.
According to Jackim Woods & Co, 97 of the 240 deals during this time frame were sponsored or financed by financial investors like private equity, venture capital, or other investment firms. That’s the highest number in three years and a 130% increase over the first half of 2020.
Twelve deals during the first half of 2020 had purchase prices of more than $100 million, and at least seven of those involved the K-12 sector. About 33% of the deals had purchase prices of between $4.5 million and $54.6 million.
The K-12 EdTeh segment surpassed the professional training services sector as the education industry’s most active market segment in the first half of 2021.
Approximately 50 deals involved the acquisition of professional training companies in the second half of 2019 and about 45 deals covered professional training services in the first half of 2021. There were approximately 40 deals in the K-12 EdTech segment in the second half of 2020, while nearly 60 deals closed in that segment in the first half of 2021.
For other segments of the education sector, the analysis showed a mixed picture of market activity for the first six months of this year compared to the second half of 2020.
The number of deals in the childcare services and higher-education EdTech segments increased during this period, but the number of deals in professional training technology, higher-ed institutions (including Title IV vocational schools), and K-20 services decreased. Deals involving for-profit K-12 schools remained stable.
According to Rich Jackim, Managing Partner of Jackim Woods & Co, “we are seeing strong demand for Title IV vocational schools that prepare students for careers in the healthcare professions. We’re also seeing strong demand for non-Title IV schools, like commercial driving schools and cybersecurity and programming schools. Valuations for these schools have increased significantly over the last 24 months.”
In addition to the McGraw Hill acquisition, the most interesting education sector deals in the first half of 2021 included
- Byju’s $900 million acquisition of Indian tutoring company Aakash Educational Services
- Renaissance’s $650 million acquisition of Nearpod
- Kahoot’s $435 million acquisition of K-12 secure-sign-on provider Clever
If you own an education-related business, including a Title IV college or vocational school, a k-12 proprietary school, or an EdTech company and are beginning to think about selling, we would be delighted to speak with you and help you explore your options.
Contact Rich Jackim, Managing Partner of Jackim Woods & Co at 224-513-5142 or rjackim@jackimwoods.com.
Read MoreCourt Reporting & Litigation Support Industry is Ripe for Consolidation
By Richard Jackim, JD, MBA, CEPA
Managing Partner, Jackim Woods & Co.
The litigation support industry and the court reporter sector, in particular, is a highly fragmented industry dominated by hundreds of small local, state and regional players. While there are several dozen national and international firms, no single firm has more than 5% of the overall market. Over the last ten years, a handful of well-financed litigation support companies have been quietly acquiring local and regional court reporting firms to build their national and international litigation support platforms. The dramatic increase in the number of court reporter acquisitions over the last few years suggests that the consolidation play is still top of mind for many financial and strategic buyers. We have included a summary of the court reporting companies that have sold recently.
We firmly expect the wave of court reporting firm acquisitions to continue and for it to remain a seller’s market for the foreseeable future. There are several reasons for this increase in M&A activity in the court reporting industry.
Aging Owners
The first reason is that most owners of court reporting firm are in their late 50’s or older and are beginning to think about retirement. For these owners, selling the company to another entity allows them to take some money off the table, continue to work for a few years, and guarantee jobs and benefits for the trusted employees who work for them for years.
Shortage of Court Reporters
Next, the wave of consolidation is likely to continue due to the increased demand for court reporting and litigation support services combined with a decrease in the number of people entering the court reporting profession. This points to a severe shortage of court reporters for the foreseeable future. To grow, a court reporting agency needs to employ more court reporters and if you can’t recruit them fast enough, the next best option is to acquire an existing court reporting firm and add that firm’s reporters to your roster. This accomplishes two important goals: acquiring trained and productive employees and gaining a loyal local client base at the same time.
Changes in Technology
The third reason the court reporting industry consolidation makes sense is the changing nature of the demand for their services. The continued cost pressures on courts, law firms and their clients are forcing these consumers of court reporting services to change their business practices. More than 45 states now accept digital recordings (both audio and video) in the courtroom. The adoption of new technologies can assist the court reporter in producing an accurate record of proceedings, but this requires a significant investment on the part of the court reporting firms which may not be possible for many smaller firms. It’s important for a company to have invested in and maintained cutting-edge utilization of technology as a competitive advantage. Any company can buy technology. But it takes good management, skills training of employees, and a dedication to optimizing technology (machinery, automation, software, etc.) to turn an investment in hard assets into real value for the company. Technology also provides a way for companies to vertically integrate into complementary capabilities and extend their reach to new customers.
Changes in Client Requirements
In addition, consumers of litigation support services are increasingly looking to reduce the number of vendors they work with and find economies of scale in their operations. Clients are increasingly looking for one firm that can provide them with a comprehensive set of litigation support services including, court reporting services, eDiscovery services, document management and storage solutions, video conferencing, and other litigation support services. This is especially true for the large national and international law firms and insurance companies that are the biggest users of litigation support services.
Low-Risk Solution
The fifth reason the consolidation wave will continue is that despite advances in technology, court reporting is at its heart a service that is delivered locally. You need to have a presence in the local market, meet with clients, and provide services locally. When a court reporting company is interested in entering new markets, either in terms of geography or a new industry sector, it is usually safer and faster if it is done through an acquisition. A company that is entrenched in a local market and has a good reputation, a solid and diverse customer base in that market or that region, and has the right size, technology and management, can be attractive to a larger company that wants to become a player in that market.
Size Matters
The last reason the consolidation will continue is that size matters. Size tends to indicate the strength of a company. In most cases when a company has grown to a considerable size —say a firm with 200 court reporters that generates $20 million in revenue—it has done so because of good management, a good reputation in the markets it serves, and an effective use of technology. This doesn’t happen by accident, and as a result, buyers and financial investors are willing to pay a premium for these companies. So, if a regional court reporting firm can acquire 1-2 local competitors a year and pay 3-4 times cash flow for each of them over the course of five years, that regional court reporting firm could be worth 4-5 times cash flow when it comes time to sell.
Below is a summary of 38 sales of court reporting firms over the last few years. This is a partial list that reflects only the publicly announced deals. Since most transactions are private, we estimate there is an equal number of deals that were not reported.
Recent Sales of Court Reporting Firms
David Feldman Worldwide Court Reporting, 2018
Gramann Reporting, 2018
Stenotrain, 2018
Tayloe Court Reporting, 2018
Amicus Court Reporters, 2017
Ayotte & Shackelford, 2017
Baltimore Court Reporting, 2017
Barrister Reporting Service, 2017
Carpenter Reporting, 2017
Cook & Wiley, Inc., 2017
Deitz Court Reporting, 2017
Dominion Reporting, 2017
Downtown Reporting, 2017
Everman & Everman, 2017
Friedman, Lombardi & Olson, 2017
Hoorwitz Court Reporting, 2017
Litigation Services, 2017
Wheeler & Hallford Court Reporting, 2017
Bienenstock Nationwide Court Reporting, 2016
Brunson Court Reports, 2016
Gregory Court Reporting Service, 2016
Independent Reporting Services, 2016
Lake Shore Reporting, 2016
Love Court Reporting, 2016
MJC Reporting, 2016
Sclafani Williams Court Reporters, 2016
Sperling & Barraco, 2016
Realtime & Court Reporting, Ltd, 2015
Elisa Dreier Reporting, 2015
M.A.R. Reporting Group, 2015
Shelley Plate Reporting, 2015
All Keys Reporting, 2014
Legal Ease Reporting, 2014
Medrecs, 2014
Electronic Legal, 2013
Tooker & Antz Reporting, 2013
American Realtime, 2012
Carol Ann Hargreaves Company, 2006
About the Author
Rich Jackim is an experienced investment banker and a former attorney who practice law with White & Case in New York and overseas. He specializes in advising business and professional services firms in mergers and acquisition transactions across the United States. If you own a court reporting or litigation support company and would like to explore your options, please contact him at rjackim@jackimwoods.com or at 224-153-5142 for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Read MoreAlpin Haus acquires Garick RV
Alpin Haus, an outdoor recreation powerhouse in New York, announced the acquisition of Garick RV in Oak Ridge, NJ.
Alpin Haus, started as a small family-owned business in 1964, is one of the leading outdoor recreational retailers in the northeast and employs over 200 people across five locations. They feature a full line of RVs, snowmobiles, skis, boats, pools, and spas.
With the acquisition of Garick RV, Alpin Haus now has six locations and its first location outside the state of New York.
Garick RV’s founder, Gary Threlfall said, “I’m excited to find a buyer like Alpin Haus that shares the same core values which I founded Garick RV on over 35 year ago. I’m confident Garick’s customers and employees are in good hands with Alpin Haus.”
Founded in the spring of 1983 by two high school friends as a RV rental company, Garick RV bloomed into a dealership with a sales center and a 10-bay service center employing over 20 people.
“Garick RV has an outstanding reputation, and this acquisition provides an additional platform to offer Alpin Haus’ services and products,” said Andy Heck, President of Alpin Haus.
“Our companies’ core foundations of providing outstanding customer service align exceptionally well,” Heck said. “We are excited to grow beyond our state borders and we look forward to serving this expanded market for years to come.”
Jim Bates, Partner, at Jackim Woods & Co. (www.jackimwoods.com) a middle market mergers & acquisitions firm with years of experience working with a variety of recreational vehicle companies represented Garick RV in the sale and played a key role in managing the transaction.
Read MoreSBA Payment Forgiveness Expected to Fuel Acquisitions in 2021
As was the case last year, COVID-related federal stimulus benefits are expected to be a powerful catalyst driving deal activity in 2021.
On December 27, 2020, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, a $2.3 trillion stimulus bill, with $900 billion targeted specifically for COVID-19 relief. A portion of these funds will be used to extend the popular 2020 CARES Act SBA Debt Relief program.
According to Rich Jackim, Managing Partner of Jackim Woods & Co, the extension includes significant benefits that provide buyers with powerful incentives to acquire a business in 2021, including:
- Six months of payment forgiveness for SBA 7(a) loans closed after February 1, 2021, and before September 30th, 2021. This includes principal and interest up to a maximum of $9,000 per month. That’s a $54,000 benefit to buyers.
- The SBA will waive the guaranty fee that must be paid by borrowers. This fee is typically around 3% of the loan amount and will now be zero for loans closed before September 30th, 2021. That’s an average saving to buyers of approximately $4,500.
- The SBA is increasing the amount of loan guarantees to lenders from 75% to 90%. This will decrease the risk to lenders and help ensure liquidity for deal financing.
Jackim urges buyers who want to take advantage of the extension to learn from the mad rush to meet last year’s deadline. It required tremendous coordination between sellers, buyers, counsel, intermediaries, and lenders. “The lesson buyers learned last year is not to procrastinate and try to close at least 30 days before the deadline to accommodate potential delays,” says Jackim.
What does this mean for sellers? If you are thinking of selling your business, now may be the right time despite the pandemic. In addition to record low interest rates, the SBA Payment Forgiveness Program provides buyers with extremely low financing costs. Last year we sold two businesses for over asking price because the buyers were able to afford to pay more due to the 2020 SBA Payment Forgiveness Program. Once the pandemic is under control, it is unlikely buyers will have access to the same generous funding they have today.
To learn more about taking advantage of the 2021 SBA Payment Forgiveness Program contact Rich Jackim at 224-513-5142 or at rjackim@jackimwoods.com.
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