Maatwerk Corporate Finance is a consultancy firm that helps entrepreneurs with acquisitions, valuations and due diligence. On behalf of an entrepreneurial couple, Harm Koops guided the sale of a domestic help provider. He posted the sales profile on Brookz, which was viewed 493 times and generated 19 responses.
What does the sold business do?
'The business is a provider of domestic help. A permanent group of approximately 100 FTE employees work for the business. The company has four branches throughout the country and has about 10 employees in the office. The domestic helpers are mostly part-time women, who then often help their "clients" in the household year after year. The work is funded under the WMO, by the municipalities. Given the increasing aging population and the government's commitment to self-reliance, the size of the market only seems to be increasing. The business was founded in 2009 and in the following years has slowly grown to an annual turnover of around 4.5 million euros.'
Why did the owners want to sell a business?
"The business had been founded by an entrepreneurial couple. But both partners have already passed the age limit of 60. They feel very responsible for the future of their business and had already hired a manager to take over the day-to-day management. In that respect, they had already prepared well for the sale.
What kind of activities did you do for these entrepreneurs?
They were referred to me by their accountant. After several introductory meetings, we decided to go into the sales process together. My experience with transactions in health care also helped. Entrepreneurs only sell a business once, so it is so important to engage an adviser who is a good fit for you, both professionally and personally.'
What is your experience with posting a sales profile on Brookz yourself?
'Good. Posting a sales profile yourself is relatively easy if you have prepared like an information memorandum or a teaser. What I especially like is the ease with which you can send and receive messages from interested parties.'
What is your experience with the number and quality of responses?
'The number of responses is fine. I notice that businesses in some sectors generate more responses from interested parties than others, but that is also a reflection of the market. Of all the responses I receive, 75 percent are quite serious. The other quarter just want to see what kind of business it is, for example a competitor.'
How did you determine the value and price?
"This entrepreneurial couple had a certain price expectation in advance. The great thing is that afterwards it turned out that this was far too low. It remains to be seen how the earn-out turns out, but it will probably be two to three times as much as they thought. In negotiating, we also used the EBITDA multiple in healthcare that Brookz surveys every six months.
Who is the ultimate buyer and does it come from outside your network?
"The buyer is an investment company that is betting on the growing market of aging. Now I have a nice network among investors here, but I didn't know this investor. So I never would have found this buyer without Brookz. That's also why I always post a sales profile on Brookz, because as an adviser you can't know every potential buyer in advance. You simply don't know who the most suitable buyer is going to be for a business, so that's the great advantage of Brookz. For serious acquisition advisors, using Brookz significantly increases their chances of success.
