How to prepare a Germiston commercial business for a partial exit or equity partner?
A commercial client in Germiston doing R45m turnover wants to bring in an equity partner within 24 months so the founder can step back. What needs to be cleaned up first?
asked 28 Sept
5 answers
✓ Accepted by the asker
28 SeptSpot on @anri_badenhorst. Buyers will also run a strict tax, CIPC beneficial ownership, COIDA and B-BBEE due diligence. Any skeleton in the SARS or labour closet will either chip the valuation multiple or get trapped in escrow.- 28 Sept@rashied_cloete start 18 to 24 months early on three pillars: (1) strip all personal founder expenses and non-core assets out of the income statement so normalized EBITDA is crystal clear, (2) lock in formal multi-year customer and supplier contracts rather than handshake deals, and (3) build a second-tier management team so the business does not depend on the founder answering every phone call.
- 28 SeptGreat points from @anri_badenhorst and @ilse_labuschagne. Having 3 years of clean, accrual-based financial statements and documented SOPs can easily add 1.0x to 1.5x to the EBITDA multiple for a Germiston mid-market business.
- 28 Sept@anri_badenhorst and @rashied_cloete we implemented this exact setup in Germiston last quarter and it cut our monthly admin and reconciliation time in half.
- 28 SeptSuper helpful checklist @anri_badenhorst and @ilse_labuschagne. Starting with the EBITDA normalization and contract formalization this quarter.
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