When business owners in New England decide it’s time to sell, CAG manages the process from start to finish. We work exclusively on the sell side, which means we represent the owners, not buyers, and our goal is to secure the strongest deal – price, terms, and cultural fit - on terms that hold up from letter of intent through closing.
Buyer Network
CAG maintains active relationships across a broad spectrum of buyers, including strategic acquirers, private equity and investment groups, family offices, and owner-operators, across New England and nationally. We also work with industry online platforms and a network of industry professionals, including attorneys, accountants, consultants, investment bankers, and financial advisers. This extensive network allows us to reach buyers that other firms miss, always with confidentiality as the first priority.
Managing the Sales Process
Selling a business takes time, attention, and coordination across legal, financial, and operational details. CAG works in a team-oriented fashion, within our group, and with you and your advisors to help you achieve your exit strategy goals. We manage the process from end-to-end: preparing marketing materials, researching potential strategic buyers, building the buyer list, managing the marketing outreach, controlling the flow of information, and leading negotiations. Owners stay continuously informed and are an invaluable resource for CAG throughout the process.
A strong, evolving buyer pool
CAG represents sellers only, which means our interests and yours are the same: a strong price, preferable overall terms, a desirable buyer fit, and a deal that closes as planned. We maintain relationships with the full range of buyer types, including strategic acquirers, private equity and investment groups, family offices, and owner-operators, and work to identify the buyer profile(s) that best fit our client.
Preparation of a valuation
Working with the business owner and often the business owner’s advisors, CAG prepares an estimate of the potential sale value of the business. Importantly, CAG takes advantage of its background and connections in banking to develop possible financing scenarios, as the availability of financing and related potential financing issues, and the nature of the capital structure, can impact the potential marketability and sale of a business.
Quality marketing materials
Before any buyer contact, we prepare a Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM), a detailed, professionally prepared document that presents the business opportunity to vetted buyers. We intentionally do not send out the CIM to hundreds of potential buyers. Rather, it is only sent to buyers that have been vetted by us, and only after signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Negotiations
We maintain the lead role in negotiating the transaction and actively work with our clients to realize the best overall terms available, while doing our best to ensure the sale has a positive outcome.
Protecting Your Time & Business Performance
A business that shows declining performance during a sale loses value. CAG strives to lighten the seller’s sales burden. Buyer calls, information requests, diligence timelines, negotiation logistics, we handle these so ownership can focus on keeping the business performing at the level buyers are evaluating.
When it comes time to sell a business, including the development of creative transaction solutions, the Caswell Advisory Group provides business owners with a resource that is fully committed to bringing about a successful sale while navigating as smoothly as possible through the business sale process.
Caswell Advisory Group is a sell-side M&A firm representing business owners in Maine and throughout New England. We manage the full sales process for companies with values between $5 million and $25 million.