Veritext Acquires Dianne Jones & Associates
Transaction Description
Court reporting giant, Veritext acquired Dianne Jones & Associates, an established court reporting firm based in Pacific Palisades, California.
Transaction Details
Veritext
Livingston, NJ
Acquired
Dianne Jones & Associates
Pacific Palisades, CA
Jackim Woods advised the seller
Transaction Overview
Dianne Jones and Associates (“DJ&A”) is a boutique court reporting agency based in Pacific Palisades, CA serving attorneys in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area since 1997.
Challenges
Dianne Jones had worked as a court reporter and agency owner for over 40 years. She wanted to retire and was looking to find the right buyer for her agency. She wanted to find a buyer that would respect the close relationships she had developed with her clients over the years and who would treat her employees and court reporters well. She had been approached by several buyers interested in buying her agency, but she realized she needed help evaluating their offers and developing counter proposals. Since this was the first and last time she would be selling her business, she wanted to be sure she did it the right way, so she turned to Rich Jackim, at Jackim Woods & Company. Rich is an mergers and acquisitions advisor and attorney, who specializes in representing and advising court reporting agencies in the sales process.
Solutions
Rich prepared a valuation of Dianne’s agency for her to establish a realistic baseline for negotiations. He then helped Dianne prepare an outline of the personal, financial, and business goals she had in a transaction. Then, Rich reviewed with Dianne all of the offers she had received and helped her evaluate the pros and cons of each based on her goals. Based on this analysis, Rich coached Dianne on how to prepare responses to each offer, including formal counter proposals, which led to a offer from Veritext that met all of Dianne’s goals and provided a realistic valuation for her business.
Because Dianne had several buyers interested in her court reporting agency, she opted to use Jackim Woods’ hourly consulting services. Unlike most business brokers who charge a commission or success fee based on the size of the deal, Jackim Woods give clients the option of simply paying for consulting time, so they only pay for the services they actually need. This saved Dianne tens of thousands of dollars compared to a traditional business brokerage commission..
Summary
Having an experienced advisor by Dianne’s side during this process helped her analyze the different offers for her business and respond to each buyer in a professional and well-reasoned way which led to an optimal outcome for Dianne.
