"After 22 years of running a joint owner manager /lifestyle business we felt it was time for a change and decided to attempt to sell our technology business.
Our initial approach was to speak with our chartered accountants and they duly they referred us to a valuation business. This company charged a smallish fee and valued the business based on audited and management accounts. The valuation process completed, and they valued us at a fairly disappointing amount, and we very nearly decided not to pursue the sale process.
However, being a nicely profitable limited company, we regularly received the “we’ll sell your business” propaganda via post and email, and we decided to speak to a few of these individuals to test the water. All of the companies we spoke to wanted some form of retainer paid upfront and then sizeable percentages on completion.
This again did not inspire us with confidence and the prospect of speaking to so many of them made us nervous that clients or staff might find out that we were considering sale and damage the business.
However, one afternoon my business partner received a call from Matt Dillon of La Salle Corporate and he offered a down to earth, no sale, no fee process. He also said the valuation we had was in his opinion too low. This was a completely different approach from all the others and if I’m honest I thought at the time it was probably too good to be true!
After a little discussion we decided we should meet with Matt Dillon and explore his offerings further. Matt commuted an awful long way to meet us, but out of the box he was respectful, he listened to our concerns and our requirements from the sale process (this was a first!) and he understood the needs for confidentiality.
Shortly after the meeting we appointed Matt to be our broker and sell the business and within a matter of weeks he was introducing us to possible buyers for us to assess their suitability. Once we had this down to a shortlist he invited offers from them. The offers we received were far in excess of the initial valuation and at this point we knew that selling the business was the right decision.
After several rounds of discussions and negotiations we selected a buyer and accepted an offer.
We moved into the due diligence phase, but at this point we had circumstances change in the business and unfortunately had to pull out of the deal. This was a bitter blow to everyone (us included) and I recall wondering how Matt would take this news after having put so much time and effort into the process and not having billed a penny for it. To my surprise he was very understanding and asked for nothing in return other than the opportunity to represent us should we ever be in the market for sale again.
At this point we all went our separate ways.
A year later and our circumstances had changed again and we were back in the market for sale. We contacted Matt and he immediately began the same process again and although we were deep in the midst of Covid restrictions he told us that he felt our business was now worth even more.
Once again he asked for nothing in return for his services.
A few months later we had completed the buyer selection process and moved once again into the due diligence process. What’s more, Matt had delivered an even better offer for the business, just as he had promised.
The due diligence process then continued for a number of months and I have to say this does become painful, particularly in an owner manager business where you are torn between looking after your business and selling it. During this time we had many frustrations and I’m sure our buyers felt the same. But once again Matt was there to keep the peace between us all and at times barter with both parties as to what was possible and realistic. I honestly believe that if he hadn’t been around to mediate between us all the deal would have fallen through.
Several months and quite a lot of extra grey hairs later the business sale went through. Matt achieved exactly what he said he would. He sold the business for in excess of double the accountant’s valuation. We paid La Salle Corporate their fees and even after paying that, the return was still more than we had asked for.
I have no hesitation in recommending La Salle Corporate to sell any business. Without them on-board our business would not be sold – fact.
Finally, Matt Dillon. He’s an absolute gentleman, who can keep his cool when all around him are losing theirs. It was a pleasure to pay him his fee, he earned every single penny of it."