Trade Sale Exit Enables Early Retirement for Construction Firm Boss

Whitings, The Corporate Finance Network’s representative firm in Cambridgeshire, has enabled the owner of a specialist construction business to sell-up and retire early.

The Whitings team, through one of their regular catch-ups with the business owner (early 50’s), sensed that he was ready for early retirement. With the business sale market currently so fertile, and the business in good shape, it was suggested that a trade sale would be the preferred exit route. A direct mail and digital marketing campaign was devised and launched, to circulate an anonymised Information Memorandum to a carefully researched and selected group of potential buyers.  A short-list of around half a dozen interested potential buyers was created. Early negotiations reduced this list to a quality private equity buyer, who saw opportunities to scale up in this market place. A deal , with a price in the £1m to £5m range was agreed, and we helped our client with negotiations, the heads of agreement, the share purchase agreement, the financial due diligence, the completion accounts and with general deal support.

A year, and many ups and downs later, and the ex-owner now has no excuses for not getting his handicap down.