We are corporate advisors that specialise in selling private companies.

We understand that deciding to sell your company is one of the most important decisions you will make in your working life. Get it right and it can ensure financial security for you and your family. Get it wrong and it can be a frustrating and costly exercise filled with regret and a sense of lost opportunity.

For the last 25 years, CFSG has been involved in numerous significant wealth-creating transactions both as principals and as advisors. During this time, we have perfected the art of building up the value of assets and businesses and strategically executing their sale for the highest possible returns. These are the skills and experience that we offer a client when assisting to sell their business.

For a detailed case study on CFSG’s end-to-end approach please click here.

Selling your business: The CFSG approach

Over many years, we have developed a bespoke process for selling a company. It is a process that has been designed to drive competitive tension to ultimately maximise transaction value.

It is a process that also recognises that while price is centrally important to a seller, it is not the only consideration. That is why our approach puts a keen emphasis on strict confidentiality throughout the sale process and also aims to minimise fees and any day-to-day disruption to a client’s business. For a detailed overview of CFSG’s indicative process for selling a business please click here.

We commence every prospective engagement with a strictly confidential and obligation-free initial discussion. Our goal is to learn more about the business and to assess whether we are well-placed to achieve the outcome a seller is looking for. We never want to waste their time or ours. We are typically retained by companies with a minimum EBITDA of $1.0m.

Key aspects of our process

Maximum competition

With every engagement, we aim to maximise competitive tension for a client’s business to help them achieve the highest possible sale price. We collaboratively construct a target list of both local and possibly international prospective purchasers and then run a sequential and tailored marketing campaign to elicit interest from the widest field of potential acquirers. We then use our negotiating skills that have honed over many years to secure the best possible outcome. For a case study of CFSG’s successful approach of introducing a global acquirer for a client’s business please click here.

Privacy & confidentiality

We understand that a major concern for any prospective seller is maintaining strict privacy and confidentiality. The last thing sellers often want is for friends, family, competitors, suppliers and so on to know that their business is “on the market.” That is why throughout our sale process, we focus on maintaining strict confidentiality and only reveal a client’s identity once genuine purchasers with the capacity to complete a transaction have been identified. For more information on confidentiality please click here.

Tax considerations

CFSG recognises that tax considerations often play a significant role in the structuring of a sale transaction. Particularly within private companies and those with intra-family shareholders, corporate structures often evolve over time to become complex and idiosyncratic. We understand that it’s the after-tax return that really counts, which is why we work closely with a client’s other advisers such as lawyers and accountants to ensure the most tax efficient outcomes of any sale.

Extensive client network

CFSG has developed deep relationships with both strategic and financial buyers with acquisition interests across a wide range of industry sectors. This gives us a finely-tuned sense of the types and sizes of businesses these buyers are looking for and the sorts of valuation multiples they are willing to pay for acquisitions. This enables us to properly advise sellers and to get their businesses in front of key decisionmakers and to receive definitive feedback quickly.

Low fee structures

We are committed to offering the fairest and most cost-effective fee structures within the industry. The majority of our fees are incentive-based: they only apply when a client successfully completes a transaction and the more a client sells their business for, the more we receive in fees. We think that is fair. We also offer clients the opportunity of breaking any up-front fees into individual components that are only payable when agreed milestones are completed.

For a general overview of the standard fees within the M&A advisory industry please click here.

Concept Financial Services Group: Our track record

Since inception, we have invested in and/or been retained by numerous leading companies and institutions including: