The Portfolio Partnership

Operational Actions that Transform Value – Time Required 2 years

by Ian Smith | May 25, 2023 | Grooming For Sale, How To Build Shareholder Value, Operational Blueprints, Operational Tips

It’s very tempting to compare the buying and selling of houses with businesses. Be careful. For example, buying another business is like buying a house but only if you include the family inside it! Selling a business is similar to selling a house in some ways, such as...

How To Scale 98% of US Companies

by Ian Smith | May 18, 2023 | Scaling

Hard to believe but 98% of US companies employ less than 100 people. Take a look at the table below created from the latest US Census data. The green cells represent the companies employing 99 people or less or 98.1% of US companies, 6 million out of 6.1 million (who...

Divestments vs. M&A

by Kevin Young | May 11, 2023 | Divestitures, Divestments

Divestitures and mergers & acquisitions (M&A) can be used effectively by companies to restructure their businesses as well as meet the strategic growth objectives of the business. Divestitures involve selling off a business unit or assets (although as pointed...

The Valsoft Story

by Ian Smith | May 4, 2023 | Acquisitions

In a recent episode of the M&A Science podcast I listened to Sam Youssef Founder & CEO at Valsoft Corporation being interviewed by Kison Patel, covering the company’s growth by acquisition. There was so much in this 50-minute interview worth sharing...

The Exit Playbook

by Ian Smith | Apr 27, 2023 | e-book The Exit Playbook, Exiting your business, Family Business

Next week we are launching our new Exit Playbook packed with advice on the exit process and some insights into how buyers behave. We share our Saleability Test which I first published in the 90s and have been calibrating ever since! The test examines 15 key factors...

10 Big Benefits of Acquisitions

by Ian Smith | Apr 20, 2023 | Acquisitions

Today, you’ll see some new branding on our blog. We’ve renamed it The Acquirer to reflect the new emphasis on topics related to acquisitions. However, for the foreseeable future we will continue to post operator tips related to building your business...

Are You Fit to be an Acquirer?

by Ian Smith | Apr 13, 2023 | Acquisitions

I was listening to an old Warren Buffet interview about his philosophies on business and specifically acquisitions. He summarized how he decides on acquisitions using four key criteria (size criteria is at least $75m earnings): A business he understands It has an...

Divestitures

by Ian Smith | Apr 6, 2023 | Divestitures, Divestments

This week we cover the flipside of acquisitions – divestitures which is perhaps counterintuitively a very attractive way to create value. This post is also partly a book review of the excellent new book Divestitures by Emilie R. Feldman, Professor of Management...

Why Do Acquisitions Fail? – The Finale Part 6 – Post-acquisition Integration

by Ian Smith | Mar 30, 2023 | Acquisitions, Leadership

In the final Phase of our acquisition process, we focus on post-acquisition integration. Post-Mortem However, immediately after the deal completes, when our memories are fresh, we perform a post-mortem on the deal. We believe this is essential to become a better...

Why Do Acquisitions Fail? Part 5 – Due Diligence & Legal Agreements

by Ian Smith | Mar 23, 2023 | Acquisitions

In the penultimate post of this series, we focus on Phase 5 of our Acquisition Process – Due Diligence & Legal Agreements. At the end of this phase, you will own the target company, so it’s crucial that you consider the objectives of this final phase....