Strategic Acquisition Searches
Certified Marketing Consultants
Promotional Products Acquisition Search Services
Acquiring an established business can help promotional products companies expand their capabilities, reach new markets, and add complementary products or services. Certified Marketing Consultants helps distributors and suppliers identify acquisition opportunities and work through the decisions involved in purchasing another company, division, or product line.
Our strategic acquisition search services begin with understanding your business and the reasons you want to acquire another company. We use that information to develop acquisition criteria, identify potential targets, and guide discussions with interested sellers. As your buy side M&A advisor, CMC supports the process from the initial search through valuation, negotiations, and closing.
Developing Your Acquisition Criteria
A productive acquisition search starts with a clear understanding of what a purchase should accomplish. CMC reviews your existing products and services, the markets you serve, and your business plan to help establish the criteria that will guide the search.
You may be looking to acquire a promotional products distributorship, expand a supplier business, or add a product line that complements your current offerings. Geographic reach, operational capabilities, and the relationship between the businesses can all influence whether an opportunity makes sense.
We help turn those objectives into a practical basis for identifying potential acquisition targets. Establishing your priorities early gives the search a consistent direction and helps you evaluate opportunities as they arise.
Finding and Approaching Acquisition Targets
Once your acquisition criteria are established, CMC identifies companies that may fit your objectives. We consider how a potential acquisition could complement your business and support the goals outlined during the planning process.
Our search includes proactive, confidential outreach to owners to determine whether they have an interest in selling. This allows us to explore potential opportunities directly and establish whether there is a basis for further discussion.
When an owner expresses interest, we arrange introductions and meetings so both parties can explore the opportunity in greater detail. These conversations help clarify the seller’s objectives, your reasons for pursuing the acquisition, and how the businesses might fit together. The promotional products businesses for sale currently listed with CMC also provide a starting point for exploring available opportunities.
Evaluating Business Value and Purchase Terms
Understanding the target company’s value is an important part of evaluating an acquisition. CMC reviews and analyzes the business’s value to help you assess the opportunity and develop realistic expectations before purchase terms are negotiated.
Our experience with promotional products business valuations supports these discussions. A clearer understanding of value gives you a foundation for considering the proposed price and deciding whether the acquisition fits your objectives.
As an opportunity progresses, we help develop the suggested financial terms and purchase structure. We then assist with negotiations and help move the transaction toward closing. Throughout the process, our role is to help you understand the opportunity, evaluate the proposed arrangement, and represent your interests as the buyer. Our completed promotional products transactions reflect experience advising companies on acquisitions and business sales across the industry.
Engaging CMC for Acquisition Search Services
Your acquisition search engagement begins when CMC receives your completed Buyer’s Questionnaire and retainer. The questionnaire provides information about your business and acquisition interests, while the retainer covers our time and basic search expenses during the initial identification process.
Upon completion of an acquisition, the retainer, net of expenses, is credited against our transaction fee. We can discuss the scope of the engagement and fee structure as you consider retaining CMC to conduct your search.
If you choose not to retain CMC, we can keep your Buyer’s Questionnaire on file in case a company meeting your criteria contacts us about selling. We will not conduct an active acquisition search on your behalf without an engagement.
It is also important to understand whom CMC represents in a particular transaction. If you have not retained us and we later contact you about a company we have been engaged to sell, we will be representing that seller. In that situation, our fiduciary responsibility is to the seller, and we cannot also represent you as the buyer in that transaction.
Discuss Your Acquisition Goals With CMC
Whether you are an ASI distributor seeking to grow through acquisition or a promotional products supplier looking for complementary capabilities, CMC can help you define your objectives and understand the search process.
Talk with us about the type of business you want to acquire, the markets you are considering, and how a purchase would support your plans. Contact Certified Marketing Consultants, call (260) 637-6643, or email info@certifiedmarketing.com to discuss your acquisition goals.