Benchmark International is pleased to announce the completed acquisition of Inspirant Group Inc. by 10Pearls LLC.

Benchmark International has successfully facilitated a transaction between Sarasota, Florida-based R.J. Rhodes Engineering, Inc. and LJA Engineering, based in Houston, Texas.

Corporate America Today has named Benchmark International the Best Global Middle Market M&A Specialist 2023.

The UK manufacturing industry remained resilient in 2022, with 2023 also off to a promising start.

A challenging economic environment has cast uncertainty on the sector, but in a report by Irwin Mitchell that examined deal information from Experian’s Market IQ database, it revealed that 1,344 UK manufacturing businesses were the target of M&A activity in 2022, in comparison to 1,285 in 2021 and 1,231 in 2020, its highest level since 2016. 

The UK manufacturing sector has also seen a continued interest from overseas investors, with 30% of deals coming from abroad. The US was the largest investor, accounting for 8% of deals, followed by Sweden, Germany and France.

Benchmark International is pleased to announce the acquisition of Mobil Information Systems (MIS) by Total Specific Solutions (TSS).

MIS is an Irish company with a 20-year track record delivering in-vehicle telematic solutions to a wide variety of companies in Ireland, as well as partners in South Africa, Mexico and the USA.

The company develops software products that enable clients to better manage their fleet assets across a diverse range of industries. Operating from its headquarters in Swords, Ireland, MIS also has an office in Cardiff, Wales.

Netherlands-based TSS is a global provider of IT business solutions. TSS is active in a wide variety of sectors including healthcare, government, financial and legal services, accountancy, agriculture, automotive, construction, education, geoscience, hospitality, manufacturing, maritime, mobility, publishing, real estate, and retail.

On the acquisition trail, the deal represents TSS’ seventh acquisition in the UK and Ireland, and its second Irish software company.

TSS is a part of Topicus.com Inc, leading pan-European provider of vertical market software and vertical market platforms. The company is listed on the Canadian TSX Venture Exchange.

Benchmark International Facilitated the Transaction between Appellation Construction Services and Whiteley Infrastructure Group.

In recent years there has been a significant degree of volatility in the market, but it is generally agreed that we will likely enter a “buyer’s market” soon. Most hear “buyer’s market” about real estate or consumer goods, where the number of homes on the market exceeds demand for housing, so naturally, prices drop. However, in M&A, this is a bit more complex. 

Benchmark International has successfully facilitated the Integrity Arts & Technology, Inc. (IDEAS) acquisition by Swagger Agency (20MM LLC).

Benchmark International has successfully facilitated a transaction between Florida-based Ultra Clean Systems Inc. (Ultra Clean Systems) and Sweden-based Getinge AB (Getinge).

Benchmark International has successfully facilitated a transaction between North Carolina-based Pet Specialties LLC (“Phydeaux”) and Kentucky-based Feeders Pet Supply.

Benchmark International has successfully facilitated a transaction between North Carolina-based Movin’ On Movers and Massachusetts-based Piece by Piece Movers.

Benchmark International has successfully facilitated the transaction between Orlando-Based Bagel King Wholesale Inc. (Bagel King) and Austin Circle Partners.

In M&A transactions, many sellers often think the hard work is over as soon as they have found the right buyer and gotten the offer of their dreams. Experienced dealmakers recognize this as the start of the hard work in the process rather than the finish line. After an agreed-upon offer, there is a full due diligence process wherein the purchaser will review the entire historical performance, tracking, and operations of the business to be bought, which in and of itself can be a monumental task even before any financial audit or legal proceedings begin. This process is typically managed to utilize a universally accessible location for files, along with a master checklist of which items are where to assist in making the process more fluid.

We proudly announce that Opus Connect has named two of Benchmark International's esteemed team members to 2023's Top 25 Women in M&A. Amy Alonso, Senior Transaction Director, and Kendall Stafford, Managing Partner, have both been awarded the outstanding honor.

Higher education institutions have been facing a watershed moment. Flagship universities and brand-name colleges are still drawing enrollees. But the number of colleges that have closed in the last decade (~200) has quadrupled over the previous decade. This is why mergers and acquisitions in higher education are becoming more commonplace than ever. In fact, in the last four years, there have been 95 college mergers—a 21% increase over the 78 that took place in the 18 years prior. Most of these mergers (40%) are being executed within private and nonprofit schools, and most deals involve schools in the same state with student bodies under 5,000. It is the less prestigious schools that are struggling the most. 

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions offer key geographical diversification benefits for buyers and businesses alike. Gaining new exposure in new regions can lower business and operational risks under different economic and regulatory conditions. Buyers often look for cross-border deals when their core markets become saturated, when business slows down, or if they can find regulatory or monetary benefits in another country. Cross-border deals are important because they allow companies to expand their offerings by entering new markets or adding new products, services, intellectual property, or technologies. Cross-border M&A can bolster revenue opportunities and cost synergies while scaling efficiency as company operations expand to a broader market.

In most businesses, books are kept on one of two typical bases: cash or accrual. Some business owners choose one or the other for a specific reason. Others work under the guidance of their CFO, bookkeeper, controller, tax advisor, accountant, or other financial specialists of choice and review the resulting reports to measure operations. However, the two bases of accounting have major differences and can significantly impact the perceived performance of a business. For example, if you've been grappling with the potential sale of a business, most acquirers prefer books on an accrual basis. There are many reasons for this, but the primary reasoning is that accrual basis financial statements follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), whereas the cash basis financial statements do not. However, both bases have their merits depending on the type and function of the business.

For the sale of a company, the parties involved can choose to structure the deal as an asset sale or a stock sale. An asset sale is when a company sells all of its assets or a portion of them. In this type of deal, the seller remains the legal owner of the business but no longer owns the assets sold. Under a stock sale, the buyer purchases equity from the selling company’s shareholders. There are several different reasons for sellers and buyers to pursue one type of transaction over the other.

Positive news surrounding middle market M&A continues to swell as well as continue into 2023. A recent survey conducted by Citizens Bank revealed a great deal of optimism for middle-market M&A activity this year. Essentially, businesses have remained resilient even during challenging economic times. In addition, interest in M&A deals continues to be a top priority by both middle-market companies and private equity (PE) firms as both buyer and seller pipelines return to pre-covid levels. To summarize, all indications point to 2023 being a great year to consider selling your business. So if you have been hesitantly holding off, it is time to start the conversation. 

Benchmark International is pleased to announce the acquisition of managed services provider, Key Digital, by Franking Sense.

Established in 2010, Key Digital is a specialist in digital transformation, document workflow, print technologies, and IT services. The company supplies multi-functional print devices and managed print services, as well SaaS software licences with professional IT support services.

Franking Sense® is a leading UK supplier of managed print, franking, mailroom, and document processing solutions with offices in Manchester, London, Glasgow, and Wrexham.

Both local, family-run organisations that operate throughout the UK, the acquisition is an ideal partnership for facilitating Key Digital’s growth strategy as it continues to operate from its Burnley home.

Andy Ratcliffe, managing director of Key Digital, said this about working with Benchmark International:

“Selling my business was the most important deal of my life and the one I had been working day and night for 13 years for. When I engaged Benchmark, I did not appreciate what an important role in the process they played. From day one until the completion, they were extremely professional and were always on hand and available for advice and guidance. They worked tirelessly to get me the best deal and at no time did I feel that they were only interested in their fee. I was amazed at the number of quality potential buyers they found which resulted in numerous offers, giving me the luxury of choice. Best decision I made was to choose Benchmark.”

Benchmark International is delighted to announce the acquisition of Amsterdam-based Payments and Cards Network (t/a PCN) by Stafford-based PSR Group.

PCN is a specialist recruitment group, placing permanent and temporary staff in fintech and data science roles with leading blue-chip clients, fintech scaleups and leading financial service providers.

The company has a worldwide reach, holding trading licences throughout Europe, the US and Singapore.

PSR Group provides specialist recruitment services to the construction, healthcare, technology, and social value sectors via four brands: PSR Solutions; SYK Recruitment; Novello Healthcare; and Build a Career. The group has over 200 employees, 12 global offices and generates revenue in excess of £75m.

The acquisition strengthens the unique blend of businesses already in the group by adding fintech to its portfolio.

On working with Benchmark International, Founder of PCN Jordan Lawrence, commented: “I recently had the pleasure of working with Benchmark International and their fantastic team, specifically Alex Forshaw. Their expertise and advice were invaluable in helping me to successfully sell my company, PCN. Alex went above and beyond, answering calls and messages at all hours until the job was done. His dedication and attention to detail made the whole process seamless and stress-free.

“I cannot recommend Benchmark International enough. Their level of professionalism, expertise, and commitment to their clients is unparalleled. If anyone is considering working with them, I would be more than happy to serve as a reference. Thank you, Benchmark International, and especially Alex Forshaw, for all of your hard work and support!”

Benchmark International is pleased to announce the transaction between Steck Manufacturing and Milton Industries. 

George Steck started Steck Manufacturing Company as Steck's Paint & Body Shop in 1946. Steck has continuously manufactured tools and equipment for the collision repair industry in it’s original location in Dayton, Ohio, for over fifty years. 

Milton Industries, Inc. was founded in 1943 as a family business based in Chicago, Illinois. Milton has been the product of choice for accessories for the past 70 years. Their products have various applications and support a range of different industries such as: automotive, fleet maintenance, construction, and manufacturing. Milton remains the industry forerunner in high-quality accessories and fittings. They are still confidently living up to their legacy of superior products and reliability, to this day. 

This acquisition furthers Milton Industries' aggressive growth strategy by complementing each other’s existing product lines. 

 "This is a textbook example in many ways. Both parties were extremely professional, and our client prepared to move quickly. Developing a strong business relationship with this buyer in a past proved to be very efficient to close a second deal back-to-back." – Director Etienne Deslauriers., Benchmark International 

2023 holds a positive outlook for middle-market business valuations. Results of the survey, 2023 M&A Outlook from Citizens M&A Advisory show good signs for company performance and high motivation for growth this year. The annual survey polls 400 leaders of US middle-market companies with $50 million to $1 billion in revenue and private equity firms actively buying and selling companies in the same revenue range.

Benchmark International is pleased to announce the acquisition of Remata (Pty) Ltd & Remata Communications and Printers Production House (Pty) Ltd (Remata) by the Formeset Group of Companies.

Benchmark International is happy to announce the completed acquisition of The J. J. Elemer Corporation by Action Bag Company.

Benchmark International is pleased to announce the acquisition of St Albans-based Back in Action UK by Leeds-based Sano Physiotherapy.

Back in Action UK is an occupational physiotherapy company that was established in 2001. It provides assessment, treatment, and ergonomic consultancy to private sector corporates nationwide.

Founded in 2010, Sano Physiotherapy, backed by Solingen Private Equity, provides specialised onsite occupational health physiotherapy services and ergonomic assessments to some of the UK's largest brands.

It also provides NHS and private sector services and delivers numerous public-sector physiotherapy contracts throughout the UK, including local authorities and police, fire and ambulance services.

The acquisition of Back in Action UK has doubled the size of Sano's occupational health physiotherapy services, expanding its expertise into new industries such as rail, travel and utilities.

The enlarged Sano group now employs more than 100 full-time staff across its customer locations and operates nationally.

If you are a business owner and want to keep up with all the latest business, finance, and M&A news and insights, these ten sites are a must-add to the bookmarks in your browser, or a follow on social media.

Benchmark International has successfully facilitated a transaction between Atlanta-based WeCareMD, P.C. (“WeCareMD”) and Tampa-based Physician Partners, LLC.

1 – Working Capital is Not Cash!

First and foremost, let’s be clear what working capital is not, it’s not cash! In fact, all things being equal, when working capital goes up, cash goes down, and vice versa.  You'll often hear the expression, "the business needs to fund working capital for growth", when what is actually meant is that the business needs extra cash to finance the increase in working capital that accompanies growth. Businesses that try to grow without sufficient working capital are said to be 'over-trading'. 

In most businesses, the basic components of working capital are stock, plus trade debtors, minus trade creditors. This working capital will have built up over time as the business has grown and, generally speaking, the longer a business has been trading, the more complex the components of working capital will have become. To explain this, we can consider a company that starts trading on Day One, wholly in cash and without holding any stock. After its first year of trading, all profits will be in the form of cash, so its balance sheet will be 100% cash, and there will be no working capital – i.e., no stock, debtors, or creditors. However, as the business starts to give credit to its customers (that become trade debtors), take credit from its suppliers (that become trade creditors), and invest in the stock, the constitution of the balance sheet will change such that its assets are cash, trade debtors and stock, and its liabilities are its trade creditors.

With discussions of a recession looming, business owners may display concerns about the timing of going to market to sell, asserting that the economic downturn will not be beneficial if they were to go to market. In fact, acquisition opportunities present a significant value creation prospect for private equity groups, which tend to increase mergers and acquisitions during a recession for various reasons.

Benchmark International is pleased to announce the acquisition of S&R Eisenmann GmbH by private investor, Marcel Brinkwirth.

The seller, S&R Eisenmann, based in Hemmingen, Germany, is a well-known brand in the automotive and tuning sector, manufacturing exhaust systems, catalyzers and roll over bars for sports cars in series and individual production. The company provides both to aftermarket customers and to Germany’s premium OEMs.

In January, private investor and MBI-candidate, Marcel Brinkwirth, took over 51% of the company’s shares and now serves as managing director. Mr. Brinkwirth has extensive experience, working for over 10 years in the automotive, consultancy and private equity sectors. He worked not only as an executive freelance consultant for Germany’s premium OEMs but also had several management positions during his career.

Post-acquisition, Mr. Brinkwirth is planning an intense growth strategy, measuring top-line growth and improving gross margins to further improve profitability levels. 

Commenting on working with Benchmark International, Rolf Eisenmann, founder of S&R Eisenmann, said: “Benchmark International as lead advisor made this deal possible. The highly dedicated team backed me up, while I focused on the daily business. I always felt well advised by Benchmark and I am confident that my successor, Marcel Brinkwirth, will do a great job.”

Mr. Brinkwirth added: “Benchmark International pushed as hard as they could to pull the deal through. I want to thank the whole team for their assertiveness.”

Benchmark International is delighted to announce the acquisition of Speak First by LTD Group, trading as Lepaya.

Speak First is a global consulting, leadership and communication training specialist, working with large organisations to develop strategies enabling long-term sustainable business growth, while simultaneously enhancing individual staff development.

Founded by René Janssen and Peter Kuperus in 2018, Lepaya is a rapidly growing Amsterdam-based company with a global reach. By combining hard skills with soft skills, offered together as ‘Power Skills’, the company has made itself a strong challenger in the growing European edtech market, in which the demand for reskilling and upskilling continues to increase.

The acquisition of Speak First showcases immense scalability and allows Lepaya to further intensify its investments into both cutting-edge companies and technologies, such as VR and AI-coaching, to further consolidate the learning and development industry.

Several important factors play into the deal-making process if you are a business owner considering a merger and acquisition for your lower- to middle-market company. Timing is often one of these factors.

Intellectual property (IP) is a non-physical creation of the mind or the product of a company's work or reputation. It is essentially ideas that are executed to become successful business assets and are often copyrighted, under patent, trademarked, or considered trade secrets, to protect from unauthorized use. Technology is a key IP type in our largely digital world and is a major driver of change and progress in nearly every industry. As a result, IP is a very important aspect of the valuation of a company. In our modern global economy, some countries recognize more IP types than others, as circumstances vary.

The global freight & logistics market is forecast to grow to $18.69 billion by 2026 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4%. When looking solely at logistics, the global logistics market is expected to reach $6.55 trillion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 4.7% between 2022 and 2027.

The flagship of The Small Business Administration's programs to support small businesses is the SBA 7(a) loan guaranty program. The program was designed to encourage lenders to provide loans to borrowers that might not otherwise obtain financing on reasonable terms and conditions. Under this program, the SBA will guarantee 75% for loans greater than $150,000 with a maximum loan amount of $5 million with reasonable interest rates. This is a viable option for the average person looking to acquire their first business or an existing business looking to grow through acquisition. This loan is so popular that in 2021, the SBA approved 51,856 7(a) loans totaling $36.5 billion.

Back in 2021, the M&A market enjoyed record-level activity. But 2021 was an anomaly because it followed 2020 when so many deals were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2022 seemed like a slower year, but it was actually a return to normalcy. 2023 is expected to be strong for the middle market, as buyer focus shifts from public markets to private markets. While interest rates have been going up, both strategic and financial buyers are still sitting on record levels of cash. 2023 could actually signify a return to normal for the market and be a great year for business owners looking to sell their companies.