One of the richest men in the world believes the UK is the best place in the world to invest.

You, as a business owner, need to be aware of the vulnerabilities faced by your business if the products and services you offer are easy to replicate.

Under the proclamation that “Britain is walking tall again”, Chancellor George Osbourne delivered the 2015 Budget, announcing that the national debt target has been met and predicted the “end of austerity” a year early.

Benchmark International’s own Andy Hancock is running the 2015 Greater Manchester Marathon, on 19^th April, to raise money for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything…” Steve Jobs

At the halfway stage of our 10 blog series we’ve already discussed removing owner dependence, demonstrating growth in sales, profits and cash with good projections, reducing customer and supplier dependence, adding depth in staff, and making sure your business’ brand values are clear, attractive and resilient.

In this instalment, the fourth of our 10 blog series, we will discuss the importance of brand values.

In the third instalment of our 10-blog series about the steps business owners may wish to consider when working toward maximising value and saleability, we look at some of the external and internal factors at play:

We’re pleased to bring you the second instalment of our 10-part blog series about the steps you can take to improve your business in the eyes of an acquirer, before taking it to market:

Over the course of a 10-blog series, we will highlight the key steps business owners should take in order to maximise the value and saleability of their business. Industry specialist and founder of ‘Prepare to Sell’, Richard Wright, advises 10 key steps.

For several years, Private Equity firms have been slowly shifting their focus toward sub-$50 million acquisition opportunities. These smaller acquisitions offer bolt-on opportunities for firms to integrate into their current portfolios, and also represent reduced risk for firms still wary of over exposing themselves following the uncertainty of the past few years.

‘Dry powder’, or the amount of capital committed to private equity firms, is frequently a strong indicator of future activity levels in the private equity industry.

President Obama is set to use his State of the Union address - his largest television audience of the year - to propose significant tax increases, which will largely affect the wealthiest Americans.

Thoughts of selling are all too often put off by business owners until a major event demands that it be given due consideration.

After a number of slow years, US M&A has returned with a bang in 2014 as cash rich buyers have returned to a market, fuelling an explosion of high value deals.

Benchmark International would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

In a recent article, “10 surprising lessons learned from selling my company to eBay”, internet entrepreneur, Kristopher B. Jones, founder and former president and CEO of Pepperjam details the lessons he learned during the process of selling his company.

“Despite steep price tags, deal flow remains healthy, and is actually strengthening.” That is the summary from Private Equity data specialist, PitchBook from its latest middle market report, which should be music to the ears of business owners selling or considering a sale in the near future.

Time and time again, when discussing the potential sale of their business with owners, one question frequently arises: “Can’t I just sell the business myself?”

There was an interesting occurrence back in 2012: the first wave of baby boomers started turning 65. Today, with 76 million baby boomers due to turn 65 over the next 15 years in the US, and at least 600,000 individuals reaching retirement age each year up to 2018 in the UK, it’s reasonable to assume a good many businesses are set to put up the ‘For Sale’ sign in the coming years.

In a recent quarterly letter to clients, Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of global investment management firm GMO, discussed his view regarding an imminent boom in the global M&A market.

Due diligence often throws up a broad range of issues that can threaten to scupper a deal. One of the biggest culprits, surprisingly, is an issue most business owners possibly wouldn’t consider to be a factor in this situation: HR.

Regardless of political viewpoints, it is undoubtedly the case that many business owners will benefit greatly from the result of the Scottish referendum. As two years of campaigning has been drawing to a heightened conclusion over the past few months, M&A activity has stalled as a result due primarily to the very real possibility of Scotland becoming an independent country and all of the uncertainty that would have come hand in hand with that decision.

So the Scottish people have spoken, an astounding 90% of them in some areas, and they have decided that the Union will go on - for a decade or two at least.

July saw the UK’s total deal volume soar by almost 20 per cent, according to Experian Corpfin, recording the highest regional growth across the world.

Benchmark International is immensely proud to have been named ‘International Corporate Finance Adviser of the Year’ at Acquisition International’s 2014 Finance Awards.

Whilst discussing the state of the current M&A mid-market with business owners, the question arising most frequently is usually “is now the right time?”

Benchmark International were recently mentioned on Bloomberg TV in a feature revolving around Deal Nexus, an M&A platform which brings sellers and buyers together from around the globe.

Many business owners believe they can sell their business on their own, without using the services of an M&A adviser. That may be the case; however, this viewpoint fails to consider the negative effect on the business that the process of selling and the time it takes will have. Whilst a business owner could potentially sell without specialist advice, it’s highly likely that the eventual value received will be much lower – indeed, without an experienced M&A research, marketing and negotiating team behind them, it almost certainly will be.

When it comes to the motives and objectives of acquirers seeking to purchase a business, regardless of whether they are financial purchasers such as private equity groups, or strategic purchasers such as larger corporates looking for bolt-on opportunities, the key value drivers of the potential acquisition largely remain unchanged.

“The primary drivers of middle-market deal flow, company and industry performance, capital availability, macro-economic conditions, and private equity values are more favourable to the private business seller than at any time since the mid-2000s.” That is the view of Andy Greenberg, CEO of private equity data resource specialist GF Data, an organisation well positioned to make a judgment, based on purely data-driven analysis.

Many business owners make one key mistake when selling their business: underestimating the value of their M&A adviser. Business owners will often marginalise their appointed M&A adviser to such an extent that it may seem their role is overly costly;however, whilst not all M&A advisers can justify their costs, a good one with strong credentials will surprise most of their clients by truly demonstrating the value an adviser can actually add.

Risk is the most influential factor when buyers are deciding whether to make an acquisition or investment. In cases where an acquisition opportunity has greater growth potential than a comparative opportunity which represents lower risk, the majority of acquirers will pursue the latter.

Another milestone is set down as Benchmark International proudly announces that that our Twitter account has now surpassed the 1,000 follower mark.

According to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., bank lending has increased by $37 billion during the first three months of the year, the greatest jump in any first quarter since 2008.

Benchmark International’s corporate finance team was the proud recipient of the prestigious ‘Team of the Year’ award at the Insider Young Professionals Awards 2014, beating off competition from fellow nominees KPMG and Savills.

Lower mid-market deals have been driving M&A activity through the first quarter of 2014, a trend that is yet to show signs of shifting. The primary reasoning behind this trend appears to be a matter of perceived risk.

Benchmark International’s corporate finance team has been nominated for the prestigious ‘Team of the Year’ award at Insider’s ‘Young Professional Awards 2014’.

No two companies are ever the same, as is the case with their owners. For this reason it makes no sense to adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to deal structures as a solution which may work for one company and the personal objectives of its owners may not be suitable for another.