You poured your heart and soul into making your business the best that it can be. Now that you’re ready to move on, you deserve a return that reflects all that hard work. But the process of selling a business is complicated: where do you find the right person to buy it, and how do you agree on a fair price? To complicate matters, for most business owners, this will be the first and last time they conduct a transaction of this magnitude. So, it’s important to get the advice of people who have been there before.

On this episode, we’ll cover the timeline and steps of the M&A process, ways to improve your valuation, and how to find the right partners. You’ll learn how to identify your objectives, navigate your team through a sales process and keep your business humming during it all. So, let’s merge our experiences and acquire some new knowledge on the art of selling a business. Read the full show transcript.

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Meet the Host

Patrick Pacheco, Executive Vice President, Trust Executive, has more than 25 years’ experience in wealth management, in addition to the designing and implementation of tax and related planning strategies.

Pacheco’s background includes years of legal practice and multiple degrees, including an LLM* Taxation from University of Houston, a JD from Southern Methodist University, and both an MBA and BS in Economics from University of Texas at Arlington.

He is also board certified in Estate Planning and Probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Meet the Speakers

BJ Green is an Executive Vice President and Georgia Commercial Banking Executive at Cadence Bank. Green is a seasoned commercial banker with over 28 years of experience in leverage and syndicated financing as well as equity, debt, and M&A transactions. He leads Cadence Bank’s Georgia middle market banking team, which provides strategic financial guidance to middle market companies across multiple industries, including manufacturing and construction.

BJ holds a Master of Business Administration from Emory University and a bachelor’s degree from University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. In addition, he is actively involved within the Atlanta community, as a board member for Trees Atlanta, Board of Trustee for The Woodruff Arts Center and Board of Governors for Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

Mark Loeffler is a Managing Director and a co-founder of VRA Partners. Mark’s background in both investment banking and law (mergers, acquisitions and securities) provides VRA Partners with significant value-added expertise. Mark’s diverse professional background and experience facilitate active involvement in all phases of a transaction. Mark also maintains an extensive network of relationships with providers of equity and debt capital.

Prior to founding VRA Partners, Mark was a Managing Director, Co-Head of the Private Markets Group and a senior member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of The Robinson-Humphrey Company and its successor, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Mark’s responsibilities included the management of merger & acquisition and private placement assignments, as well as managing the firm’s activities with all sources of private capital.

Prior to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Mark was a Partner in the Atlanta office of Powell Goldstein LLP (now Bryan Cave LLP) where he was a senior member of the firm’s Corporate Finance Group, as well as Co-Head of Eagle Partners (a practice group focused on emerging growth companies). Prior to Powell Goldstein, Mark was an Associate in the Atlanta office of Jones Day LLP. During Mark’s legal career he was involved in representing registrants and underwriters in public offerings, private companies in venture and growth capital financings, public and private companies in negotiated mergers, acquisitions and divestitures and in rendering advice on general corporate law matters.

Mark received a B.B.A. degree from the University of Georgia in 1986 and a J.D. degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1989.

*Cadence Bank does not provide legal, accounting or tax advice to any client who receives trust services from Cadence Bank.

This podcast is provided as a free service to you and is for general informational purposes only. Cadence Bank makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the content in the podcast. The podcast is not intended to provide legal, accounting or tax advice and should not be relied upon for such purposes. To the extent that this podcast includes predictions about the economy, these predictions are subject to a number of variables and you should confer with your legal, accounting and tax advisors for their input regarding the possible outcomes of any economic subject matter discussed herein.