News Articles

You’ve got investors lined up. Great! But how much is their help going to cost you, really? By Ed PowersHead of Capital Access Funds, Bank of America What’s the real cost of capital for your business? Do you know? Or just think you do? The concept of cost of capital comes straight ... read more

By Maurie Cashman The cost of capital for a business is a critical measurement that every business owner should know how to evaluate.  It is one of the leading causes of problems in achieving an ownership transition since it is a key in developing reasonable and supportable business valuations.  One ... read more

BUSINESS WIRE)–Business valuations – the primary means by which businesses are evaluated in the investment process – have been significantly increasing according to new results from the 2018 Private Capital Markets Project from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. Survey respondents from investment banks report that average company valuation multiples have increased ... read more

By Maurie Cashman The Pepperdine Annual Cost of Capital is a survey that I have participated in for several years.  It contains interesting information about the expectations and and experience of market participants in private company transactions from various perspectives.  What follows are selections from the current survey and comments. ... read more

By Kaye A. Thomas Guidance on tax rules for stock grants or awards. If you work for a corporation, you may receive compensation in the form of stock of that corporation (or perhaps the parent of that corporation). If the stock is vested when you receive it, you have to report ... read more

Minimizing owner taxes is always an important component of Ownership Transition Planning, but when using stock bonuses, we also consider the key employee’s taxes. In “Stock Bonus Plans Have Many Advantages” we met Adam Norton, the 54-year-old owner of Norton Glass, a manufacturer of commercial greenhouses. He told us that ... read more

Steve Parrish  I was working with a business owner on ideas for retaining a key employee. The employee was threatening to leave for a higher paying job, declaring “I love working here, but if I’m going to stay, I want to have some skin in the game.” I started explaining ... read more

By Maurie Cashman Stock bonus plans have many advantages over traditional employee incentive plans, which are designed to motivate employees to work smarter and harder. Last week we discussed how retaining ownership of a business while backing away from the daily management is a question we often get from owners. ... read more

Mike Finger Is your business dependent on you?   You rightly answer, “Of course it is you idiot, I’m a small business owner.” It’s completely understandable. You started the business from nothing. In the beginning it was only you. You made the difference. 1,000 times the only reason the business survived was because you tackled the ... read more

By Maurie Cashman Retaining ownership of a business while backing away from the daily management is a question we often get from owners. They wonder if, rather than exiting, they can back away from their company. Business owners are telling us things like, “I’d like the freedom to do whatever ... read more

Broadband Construction Component Manufacturer Available for Acquisition Midwestern United States 3-Year Average Sales $410,000  EBITDA $155,000 Sale Price: $820,000 Originally founded in 2005, this patented product makes the installation of Outside Plant (“OSP”) much quicker, more predictable, more economical and allows a smaller installation footprint.  It also reduces the ongoing ... read more

By Elvin Mirzayev, CFA, FRM | Updated January 23, 2018 — 9:44 PM EST In equity valuation theory and practice, we generally encounter two valuation approaches: discounted cash flows (DCF) and comparables.   The DCF Model The DCF model refers to a group of approaches that are also called “present value models.” These traditionally assume the value of ... read more