Articles & News

By: John M. Stinar, Esq. With certain exceptions, Colorado law prohibits the enforcement of covenants not to compete. The assumption is that the State of Colorado wishes to have its citizens engaged in gainful employment. Specifically, Colorado Revised Statute § 8-2-113 provides that “it shall be unlawful to use force, threats or other means of intimidation to prevent any person from engaging in any lawful occupation at any place he sees fit.” The Statute further goes on to provide that any covenant not to compete which restricts the right of a person to receive compensation for performance of skilled or

We are seeing significant activity in the business acquisition market-place.   For example, we closed two transactions last week.  We also had funding approved for two additional transactions and have numerous other transactions in various stages of the closing process.  We attribute the activity to better economic performance by our client companies, increased confidence in the economy, as reflected by rising real estate values and the stock market, and the willingness of lenders to make commercial loans for solid transactions. Historically, manufacturing businesses have been a category of businesses in strong demand, but not all manufacturing businesses are created equal.  This

By David Mead Reprinted with permission from Issues for Growth It appears that we may be entering the next big surge in business transition activity fueled by the retirement needs of aging baby boomers. The first baby boomers turned 67 years of age in 2012 and we are beginning to enter the years having greatest numbers of boomers. We estimated that in 2012, based on slow activity in 2008-2011, there were between 1.2 -1.5 million boomers (with businesses between $2M and $80M in revenue) who would need to sell to provide liquidity for retirement. If you are a business owner contemplating a

Colorado is a service-based economy – there are more service businesses in the state than any other type of business. While the Rust Belt, Great Lakes regions, and both coasts have access to rails and waterways, Colorado is landlocked, lending itself to services, rather than heavy manufacturing. When it’s time to buy a service business, there will be many options. Service businesses run the gamut, from accounting firms, to drycleaners, to janitorial services, engineering, public relations firms, and many other options. Despite their disparity, they all have one thing in common: offering a service to clients. (Although restaurants, hotels, and

My team is often asked why businesses don’t sell. Although there are a variety of reasons, or a combination thereof, we believe that the pie chart below does a pretty good job of addressing this topic. For brevity purposes, I will briefly address the top three reasons: Why Won’t My Business Sell? Unrealistic Expectations It is human nature for most of us to believe that our assets (houses, cars, businesses, etc.) are worth more than the markets dictate they are worth.   The way to address this deficiency is to hire an outside expert that has the capability of providing you

Here are the 5 Phases and how we help manage the selling process: The Business Sale Process Phase 1 – Planning Define seller’s goals and objectives Conduct preliminary due diligence and presale audit Assemble advisory team (accountant, transaction attorney, broker/intermediary, financial planner) Assemble data from Seller Information Checklist Analyze financial statements and prepare valuation range (Opinion of Market Value) Phase 2 – Preparing Agree on range of business value and transaction structure Execute engagement agreement Develop timeline for the process Assemble additional company information Prepare comprehensive presentation package Phase 3 – Marketing Conduct market research and identify buyer prospects Activate marketing

In the M&A world, documentation is critical.  Not only does a Seller need the proper documentation to obtain a valuation on the business and to get the Buyer interested in the transaction, but the proper documentation is required during the due diligence process to verify the accuracy of the Seller’s financial statements and the goodwill of the business. At FBB Group, we typically break the process down into multiple components, as assembling all the information simultaneously can be time consuming for time-challenged business owners.  The first group of information is used to provide a range of value for the business.  Set forth below

By David Mead Reprinted with permission from Issues for Growth   Doing a sale with only one prospective buyer is typically a bad idea. Recently, there have been a number of failed sales transactions where the seller negotiated with only one prospective buyer only to have the deal fall apart, or to have the sales price significantly lowered during due diligence. Here are a few comments from disillusioned sellers: “We received an unsolicited offer for our business. The process wore on for more than nine months. Then the buyer just withdrew the offer and disappeared.” “We were planning to start

Ron Brasch and Una Ng-Brasch were recently recognized as the Business Arts Leaders of the year at the sixth annual Business and Arts Lunch. The lunch, co-presented by the Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance and COPPeR, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, honors businesses and business leaders that support the arts and integrate arts and creativity into their companies. Ron Brasch is a Merger and Acquisitions Specialist at The FBB Group, Ltd., and Una Ng-Brasch works in the Education Department at Colorado College. Brasch is an award-winning poet who participates in the Smokebrush Foundation’s Story Project and the Pikes

The 2013 tax year will be a Brave New World for many closely-held business owners. A number of tax rates are increasing, depreciation incentives are ending, and then there’s the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Business owners face many new tax challenges in 2013. Business owners will want to identify how these many changes will affect both their business and personal taxes. New tax rate increases in 2013 The legislation early this year that added a new top bracket for higher-income individuals was well-publicized, but 2013 has a whole array of tax rate increases applying at varying income levels: New ACA