Buying, Selling, and Valuing Financial Practices: The FP Transitions M&A Guide

David Grau, Sr.



The Authoritative M&A Guide for Financial Advisors

Buying, Selling, & Valuing Financial Practices shows you how to complete a sale or acquisition of a financial advisory practice and have both the buyer and seller walk away with the best possible terms. From the first pages of this unique book, buyers and sellers and merger partners will find detailed information that separately addresses each of their needs, issues and concerns.

From bestselling author and industry influencer David Grau Sr. JD, this masterful guide takes you from the important basics of valuation to the finer points of deal structuring, due diligence, and legal matters, with a depth of coverage and strategic guidance that puts you in another league when you enter the M&A space. Complete with valuable tools, worksheets, and checklists on a companion website, no other resource enables you to:

• Master the concepts of value and valuation and take this issue “off the table” early in the negotiation process
• Utilize advanced deal structuring techniques including seller and bank financing strategies
• Understand how to acquire a book, practice or business based on how it was built, and what it is capable of delivering in the years to come
• Navigate the complexities of this highly-regulated profession to achieve consistently great results whether buying, selling, or merging

Buying, Selling, & Valuing Financial Practices will ensure that you manage your M&A transaction properly and professionally, aided with the most powerful set of tools available anywhere in the industry, all designed to create a transaction where everyone wins—buyer, seller, and clients.

Table of Contents

Foreword xi

Preface xv

For Sellers xv

For Buyers xvi

Acknowledgments xix

Chapter 1 The Basics You Need to Know 1

Chapter 2 Value and Valuation Fundamentals 31

Chapter 3 Solving Valuation 57

Chapter 4 Building and Preserving Value toward the End of Your Career 75

Chapter 5 Preparing to Sell 91

Chapter 6 The Buyer’s Perspective 119

Chapter 7 Deal Structuring: Payment Terms, Taxes, and Financing 143

Chapter 8 Due Diligence and Documentation 175

Chapter 9 Key Legal Issues in the M&A Process 197

Chapter 10 The Transition Plan 223

Conclusion 247

Appendix: Sample Documents 249

About the Author 279

About the Website 281

Index 283