Q & A
- We need broad coverage of the market of buyers to know that we've covered all the bases and have found that outlier buyer willing to pay the most for our company. How can Sniper Process® do that?
Sniper Process is broader than today's auctions. The most common and wrong assumption about Sniper Process is that we go to only a few buyers. For example: We can approach the exact same 300 buyers that the "broad" auction would. The key difference is that more of those same buyers will be interested in our process than in the auction that they typically avoid. We run as broad or narrow of a process as necessary to make sure we achieve maximum value. If you want to find the outlier buyer, then don't hire an investment banker because many buyers today simply avoid their auctions. They embrace Sniper Process.
- Why do buyers embrace Sniper Process?
Buyers understand that while we will interview and consider possibly hundreds of suitors for any given company, we will only select the most compelling handful of buyers in the world who will then compete to acquire the company. One key element of Sniper Process is this simple fact. Today's buyers know that their time will be well spent should they be selected to participate as one of that handful of most compelling buyers. This is the reason they embrace Sniper Process.
- Why is Sniper Process faster?
Because we can be in the market within a week or two with the company. Today's old and standard M&A process can take from two to four months to go to market with a pitch book that takes tons of effort to produce, but serves more as a marketing piece for the investment banker, than it does useful information for the buyers. We have created a leaner and better solution to eliminate the need for a pitch book and do so more effectively.
Today's standard investment banker is not needed and can be detrimental to your interests.
- Who will advise me on deal terms, structure, valuation and other things?
Today's standard investment banker is not needed and can be detrimental to your interests. This is one of the key elements of Sniper Process. We strongly suggest that your interests are best served by transaction advisors who include CPAs, consultants, CFOs, lawyers or other professionals. In today's auction process, the investment banker has a huge fee at stake on whether or not you accept the deal. Should you rely on his advice when he has so much at stake? Let the experts do their jobs. We focus on what we do best; finding the right buyer for the company. We believe CPAs, CFOs, transaction advisors, and great legal counsel are optimally suited to support sellers through this better way of selling their companies.
- What is the substitute for a pitch book to sell our company?
There are two possibilities. First, we have partnered with several national accounting firms to provide "Transaction Advisory Services" to sellers and prepare credible and reliable data on the company. This sell side preparation enhances certainty to close and speeds up the process. Buyers appreciate this and find it useful and it reduces surprises for both the buyer and the seller. The other option is not to engage an accounting firm for these services and to not produce anything resembling a pitch book. Companies are acquired daily without a sales memorandum. In these cases, we go to market with an executive summary that is ample for a Sniper Process.
- How does Merger Partners get paid?
We are paid by the buyer when the deal closes. The seller of the company, while utilizing the best process in the world to sell their company, owes us nothing. Today it is standard for buyers to pay a finder's fee, and ours is lower than most sell side advisors' fees.
- What is the minimum deal size Merger Partners will consider?
We will consider companies with a minimum of $2 million EBITDA. In some situations we may consider smaller.
- Do any other M&A advisors or investment bankers offer this?
No. This proprietary process was created and launched by us. Never before have the components of the M&A process been put together in this way. This is the first time that sellers have been able to cover the buyer pool so fast and so effectively, and have the most compelling buyers in the world compete to acquire their company and not pay a fee.
- Why is it named Sniper Process?
A sniper's role is to assess hundreds of targets but only engage a handful of the highest value ones. Our role in running a Sniper Process to sell a company is very similar. We look at hundreds of buyers yet only engage with a handful of the most compelling buyers who compete to acquire the company.