|
|
                 |
 The sale of Applied Business
teleCommunications is a case study of a highly profitable business operating in a
"hot" marketplace with an array of suitors circling the target and positioning
for advantage. When a company is highly marketable, the emphasis of the engagement is to
create order in the chaos and bring out the best possible price from a structured offering
with great attention to detail and time management. The auction method helps the process
of filtering down to qualified buyers in successive bidding rounds, and in achieving
higher offers at each step of the way based on controlled parameters.Applied Business teleCommunications ("ABC"), a California-based company, is the largest tradeshow and conference organizer in the field of teleconferencing and tele-education products and technologies worldwide. ABC holds annual conferences on the West coast, East coast, and in Europe, with strong education programs that work in conjunction with the exhibits. Breakout components include distance learning technologies, and telemedicine applications. ABC operates in a rapidly changing industry environment, characterized by the migration of expensive and dedicated tele-conferencing technologies to Internet-based video and phone utilities. Due to a strong interest by the market in our client's business, we were able to orchestrate an "auction" approach in selling the business. This type of approach demands that guidelines are made to assure an orderly process. Among a universe of ten potential suitors, we required each party to strictly adhere to the calendar and offering game rules. We went through two rounds of offers to efficiently narrow the list of potential suitors. After these rounds, the remaining parties were invited to management presentations immediately preceding the company's flagship conference in order to foster the buyers' appetite and excitement. Once our client entered into an exclusive agreement, we oversaw the due diligence process and successfully navigated our client through thorny legal issues and dealt effectively with performance adjustments and the renegotiation of financial terms. As a result, our client sold his business at a very steep premium that equated to approximately three times what had been offered to him in an unsolicited bid received prior to our engagement.
|
|
Mergers & Acquisitions | Strategy
Consulting | External Corporate Development
| © 2003 Atlantic Accord |
