Handle the deal in-house
There are many acquirers out there. With our history ranging from 1906, we have been around longer than most of them. We believe it is safe to say that acquisitions run in our corporate DNA.
Some of the lessons we have picked up over the years are:
Keep it simple: we try to focus on what matters. Therefore, we generally do limited due diligence processes and focus on main matters. Also, we don’t try to invent the wheel over again. We stick to established deal structures and practices that have proven to work for many decades. Furthermore, we always pay cash, the finance of the acquisitions is secured before we engage in a process, and do not put any debt on the companies we acquire
Handle the deal in-house: we believe it is crucial that our internal champion and the deal team involved are the same persons that will work with the company post-acquisition. For these reasons, we very rarely use external consultants.
Get the deal done: when we see a logic for a deal, we keep a high pace in order to get the deal done. Everyone involved from our side – from the first person reaching out all the way up to our board of directors – has a profound experience of acquisitions, something that creates a strong foundation for a smooth and professional process with Bergman & Beving.
Even though all cases are unique, the process is very much the same.
As acquisitions run in our DNA we are always looking to grow our group with acquisitions that match our investment criteria. If you want closer guidance on our investment criteria, contact Martin Lundberg, Head of M&A.
We have “wish-lists” of companies that we believe would fit well into the Bergman & Beving family, and try to keep in touch with these companies from time to time. This is also a way to make sure that we will be on the entrepreneurs ‘radar screen’ when he becomes interested in pursuing a sales process.
Parallel we keep close contact with 100+ corporate finance firms and realtors of businesses and receive opportunities on a daily basis.
We don’t really have a preference between working directly with companies or via realtors. We have good experiences from both ways.