Spirit West Management » Succession planning

Vancouver Sun on Boomers Preparing to Sell their Businesses

Lorraine — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:01:25 +0000

Harvey Enchin of the Vancouver Sun did a story on the fact that boomer business owners say they want to retire in the next three to five years, which means selling their businesses but they have not prepared their companies to get the highest valuation. Here’s the story. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=c9388f05-f1c7-4960-812f-b6c8b15b454a Why do you think business owners are not doing adequate preparation to make their businesses attractive to sell? Add a comment below.

CBC talking about boomer business owners unprepared to sell their companies

Lorraine — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:19:34 +0000

It seems that slowly the word is getting out to business owners that they had better get the help they need to position their companies correctly in order to be ready to retire. The CBC just announced RBC’s latest study on the strange trend that owners don’t know how and are not thinking about how to extract the wealth they have built up in their companies. You can read about the latest study here.

Spirit West CEO interviewed by News1130

Lorraine — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:15:29 +0000

Russ Bythe from News1130 Interviewed Lorraine Rieger McGregor, CEO of Spirit West Management on why business owners need to do valuation planning, to get their companies the highest valuation possible 2-3 years before they think of selling. Listen to the radio interview here

How to Prepare a Company for Sale

Lorraine — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:17:53 +0000

The Wall Street Journal has a great website on many issues about selling businesses including the weighty competing agendas of what to do with a family business .

Also at the Wall Street Journal site are a series of webcasts called SmartMoney TV This series is well worth listening to.

Does Leaving the Business to Family Continue to Build Wealth?

Lorraine — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:10:58 +0000

Apparently not, says Tom Deans, a former business owner who has been president of a large family business for almost a decade. Only a third of family businesses (90% of businesses today are family owned) succeed in passing along a business to the next generation and continue to build wealth. Why? It’s an emotional issue. If you’ve received the gift of a business, its very hard to sell it. Secondly, the responsibility of continuing the notion that they must leave a legacy makes wealth extraction very difficult. Thirdly, sons and daughters may lack the skill sets, the passion, and interest to effectively operate the business.

What’s the best solution? Sell the business, don’t gift it. Give money, not a business. The company should be valued at a fair price and if the next generation wants to buy in, then that is a more successful transaction, says Tom Deans. Read more from his book “Every Family’s Business” to understand how to communicate succession planning issues amongst family members.