I am very pleased to announce the recent sale on behalf of its clients of a Nottingham based aluminium windows and curtain walling manufacturer for an initial consideration of £2.3m. http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/sales.aspx
This is our biggest deal since the banking crisis and I hope is a sign of recovering confidence in the business sales market. The transaction was a Management Buy-Out and Buy-In and was put together with a combination of bank debt and equity provided by both the incoming and the existing management. It has been a very long and drawn out process getting a bank to commit to the deal but we got there in the end. The deal really only happened because the vendors were prepared to take a sensible, realistic and helpful approach. I have to say that despite what is printed in the papers it is still incredibly difficult to raise debt on business purchases http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/index.aspx and until bank funding becomes easier the market conditions will remain tough. We are literally swamped with buyers looking for good well priced business all over the country http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/search.aspx and if the banks do honour their commitment to Project Merlin then I would hope that this deal will be the first of many!
Rupert Cattell
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/
Wednesday 16 February 2011
January Report
I am sure that like me you are keeping a weather eye on the property market and the economy in general. The papers have obviously decided to continue spreading the general doom and gloom from last year and are trumpeting how fragile is the economy and how we could fall back into recession. I have to say that this is not doing any of us any favours. Consumer confidence is a fragile thing at the best of times and at the moment people are holding back from making big decisions because they are scared.
And yet despite all that we are seeing plenty of buyer activity and in fact in January we recorded the highest level of buyer enquiries for 12 months. However buyers are definitely both very cautious and are also trying to be pretty cute. I have had a number of conversations with buyers who have said that they are going to wait and see if prices drop further before they make their move. This unfortunately becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophesy as prices move down to meet these buyers’ expectations and that has a domino effect across the board. What you don’t want to be then is holding expensive stock when all your competitors have reduced their prices.
To be frank I don’t see any likelihood of prices rising in the next 10 to 12 months. In fact I think prices will continue to drift downwards caused by a combination of distressed sellers, cautious and savvy buyers and a lack of first time home buyers preventing sellers further up the chain from being able to sell their houses.
We are also seeing Bank Valuers pricing in this expected fall in prices when they do their mortgage valuations. So even if a deal has been agreed, once the valuation has been done, the deal is having to be renegotiated.
Don’t forget however that if you’re seeing your asking price reduce, so too is the seller of the next property you want to buy. Consequently things tend to even out.
If your business has been on the market for a while now and you are not seeing much activity then I think that you should be talking to us about your asking price. Traditionally vendors price their businesses at some 10-20% above their expected sale price on the basis that they are expecting to be chipped. I think however the rules have changed and you should be pricing your business at what we think is the market price – that way you are likely to see more activity and more buyer interest. Then when you get an offer you can decide whether or not it is acceptable having regard to how much of a reduction you can negotiate off your next purchase.
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/
And yet despite all that we are seeing plenty of buyer activity and in fact in January we recorded the highest level of buyer enquiries for 12 months. However buyers are definitely both very cautious and are also trying to be pretty cute. I have had a number of conversations with buyers who have said that they are going to wait and see if prices drop further before they make their move. This unfortunately becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophesy as prices move down to meet these buyers’ expectations and that has a domino effect across the board. What you don’t want to be then is holding expensive stock when all your competitors have reduced their prices.
To be frank I don’t see any likelihood of prices rising in the next 10 to 12 months. In fact I think prices will continue to drift downwards caused by a combination of distressed sellers, cautious and savvy buyers and a lack of first time home buyers preventing sellers further up the chain from being able to sell their houses.
We are also seeing Bank Valuers pricing in this expected fall in prices when they do their mortgage valuations. So even if a deal has been agreed, once the valuation has been done, the deal is having to be renegotiated.
Don’t forget however that if you’re seeing your asking price reduce, so too is the seller of the next property you want to buy. Consequently things tend to even out.
If your business has been on the market for a while now and you are not seeing much activity then I think that you should be talking to us about your asking price. Traditionally vendors price their businesses at some 10-20% above their expected sale price on the basis that they are expecting to be chipped. I think however the rules have changed and you should be pricing your business at what we think is the market price – that way you are likely to see more activity and more buyer interest. Then when you get an offer you can decide whether or not it is acceptable having regard to how much of a reduction you can negotiate off your next purchase.
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/
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