Article in The Sheffield Star BUSINESS Monthly

The Star, Wednesday, December 1, 2010
www.thestar.co.uk
B U S I N E S S Monthly
The Star
Acquisitions & Disposals
with Andrew Coates of
Selling your business How to do it
In last month’s column Andrew Coates,
director of award
winning dealmakers
Strategic Corporate
Finance, explained why a “scattergun
approach” to selling your business is
virtually always the wrong approach.
This month Andrew explains how
a list of target potential purchasers
should be drawn up.
Although many very small businesses are sold by advertising them
widely, this is not the right approach
for most businesses and certainly not
for those businesses with multi-million pound turnovers. Last month
I explained why it is the wrong
approach to offer the business to numerous companies in your sector and
that it is much better to concentrate
your own time and efforts and your
advisers’ efforts on those potential
purchasers that are most likely to put
a good offer on the table.
So how should a list of potential
purchasers be drawn up? This can
only be done by detailed research.
This is a key stage of the selling process and it is important that as much
time as necessary is spent doing
this research. The list is put together
in several stages. Initially a long list
of potential purchasers is created,
which is then refined down to a short
list, “cherry picking” the best to go on
the final list of potential purchasers
to be approached.
The initial long list is created using
research tools including comprehensive databases. A good starting point
is to identify companies worldwide
that have previously acquired a business similar to your own. For example, a US company may be identified
that has already acquired a business in your sector in Germany and
another one in Spain. A second stage
of the process is then to identify all
companies in the UK that meet the
criteria that we have set.
It is fairly typical to then have a list
with 200 to 300 potential purchasers
on it.These should then be narrowed
down to a much shorter list, often of 15
to 25 potential purchasers who would
then be approached. Many of the companies on the final short list will have
carried out acquisitions before and all
will have been pre-vetted to ensure
they are likely to have a good reason
to acquire your business and that they
can afford to make the acquisition.
To narrow down the initial long
list, it is necessary to review each
company individually, reviewing their
latest published financial information, their websites and considering
their history of acquisitions. We have
a successful track record of finding
buyers for businesses, but there are
no shortcuts – it is vital to do full and
proper research to get the best deal.
For advice or consultation call
Strategic Corporate Finance on 0114
324 0430, email
andrew.coates@strategiccf.co.uk or
visit www.strategiccorporatefinance.
co.uk
5
Feature
Online transformation
S
Richlyn
leads
online
business
revolution
HEFFIELD
IT
specialist Richlyn Systems is
preparing clients
for an online revolution which is
set to transform the way businesses are run.
Internet giant Google’s free
computer operating system,
due to be launched in early
2011, is a milestone in the ongoing shift towards web-based
IT applications.
Unlike traditional operating
systems like Microsoft Windows or Apple’s Mac OSX,
Google Chrome OS will be
based purely on the World
Wide Web, allowing access
to websites and web applications and removing the need
for traditional software installations altogether.
Successes include
the University of
Sheffield’s FRAX
website, which is
used by health
professionals
across the world
A new generation of software
applications also operate via
the web - and Richlyn Systems
is determined to ensure its clients reap the benefits of this
technological transformation.
“Imagine sitting on a train,
running your business from
your iPad or smart phone - you
no longer need to be tied to an
office computer,” says Richlyn
director Rick Cusimano.
Richlyn has established a
reputation for developing tailor-made software applications
for its clients’ needs. Now it is
upgrading those applications
to operate on the World Wide
Web.
Successes include the University of Sheffield’s FRAX
website, which is used by
health professionals across
the world to calculate the
probability of bone fracture
for patients. Richlyn has upgraded the site, incorporating
new country models and more
language support to make it
available to more people than
ever.
“FRAX is now available in 14
different languages - including
Arabic and two types of Chinese,” says Richlyn MD Richard Cowley. “It receives over
Innovation:
RickCusimano
Languages:
FraxinArabic
andEnglish
300,000 hits a month from all
over the world.”
The company is also enhancing its bespoke property integrated management software
(PIMS) to be operated online
by leading property companies including Evans Property
Group.
Richlyn has doubled the
size of its headquarters in the
Blades Enterprise Centre and
is now recruiting more software developers to meet the
demand for its services.
“We are doing more work for
our existing blue chip clients
and also providing a service
for companies who have been
referred to us,” says Richard.
“Our business is founded on
customer service and we’re
proud of the fact that most
of our new work comes from
word-of-mouth recommendations.”
For many clients, Richlyn has
provided generations of bespoke IT solutions, evolving in
time with the technology.
“Bespoke software provides
businesses with a system designed specifically for their
needs. It also allows them to
take an active role in running
their websites, resulting in a
usable package which will
last far longer than an off-theshelf product,” he says. “Now
web-based applications can
provide a new level of freedom
and flexibility.”