When your family business receives an unsolicited offer, you might assume that key family members will balk at selling the business. But what if they are interested in considering an offer? Often, successful family businesses receive unsolicited offers from both legitimate and illegitimate buyers. You obviously ignore offers from the latter. But legitimate offers may come your way, and it’s important you’re prepared to handle them.
As Travis Harms says, “the best time to get an unbiased view of what the family thinks about selling is before the acquisition offer comes in.” Have an honest, informal conversation with key family members. What do they think about a potential sale? Are they staunchly against the idea? Are they open to consideration? If the family is willing to consider an offer, how do you proceed?
Read “A To-Do List for Evaluating Acquisition Offers” and learn the four additional steps that Travis recommends to prepare a family business for an acquisition offer.
Read about how to prepare a family business for an acquisition offer here.
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