Receiving multiple offers from buyers often signals strong demand. It can put sellers in a favorable position, but it also introduces complexity. Every potential buyer comes with different priorities, timelines, financing terms, and expectations. What may begin as encouraging momentum can quickly shift into confusion if the process isn’t managed carefully.

As multiple offers come in, buyers may request unique conditions, push for contingencies, or challenge your level of commitment. Without a structured approach, sellers risk losing control of the process, delaying the timeline, or weakening their negotiating power. Market interest continues to grow, with small business acquisitions increasing 10% year-over-year in Q1 2024, according to the BizBuySell Insight Report.

In this guide, you'll learn how to handle multiple offers with discipline and structure. From evaluating hard and soft terms to maintaining control over negotiations, the goal is to help you make informed choices, so your final deal aligns with both the value of your business and your future plans.

TL;DR:

Sellers receiving multiple buyer offers must stay structured to avoid missteps. This guide explains how to handle multiple offers with clarity, assess each buyer's intent, and manage the sale process confidently from start to close. You'll also learn how a business broker can help you manage competing buyers without losing momentum or focus.

A handshake doesn’t seal a business sale—contracts do. And if those contracts are vague or incomplete, the deal you thought was secure can quickly unravel. Yet, 70% of business sales fall apart during due diligence, often due to legal oversights, financial discrepancies, or disputes over contract terms. Whether you’re selling or buying a business, a well-structured legal agreement can mean the difference between a smooth transition and costly disputes.

The structure of an M&A deal often hinges on how it's financed, and in 2025, that choice matters more than ever. In the first half of the year, a PwC Pulse Survey showed that global M&A volumes dropped by 9% compared to the same period in 2024, while deal values increased by 15%, signaling a market shift toward higher-value, strategically financed transactions. Your financing choice shapes the deal structure, influences post-close control, impacts how fast the acquired business can scale, and determines long-term outcomes for both buyer and investors.

With multiple capital sources available, it's essential to understand how private equity, traditional bank loans, and private credit each operate, along with their implications for control, cost, and flexibility. This guide breaks down the key differences, benefits, and tradeoffs to help you fund your next acquisition with strategic clarity.

TL;DR:

Your financing structure drives deal outcomes. This guide breaks down private equity, bank loans, and private credit to help you finance your next M&A with confidence. Learn how each option impacts control, cost, and post-close growth, so you can make the smartest capital decision for your deal.

Thinking of buying an existing business? Here’s what trips up most buyers. The years 2023–2025 saw a wave of failed M&A deals as tightening regulations, market volatility, and boardroom clashes derailed numerous high-profile mergers. Some collapsed under the weight of inflated valuations. Others simply fell apart because critical issues were missed in the rush to close.

Buying a company is a strategic move filled with nuance. Deals go sideways when buyers get too comfortable with surface-level numbers, underestimate cultural fit, or treat advisors as decision-makers instead of collaborators. This article outlines the nine most common acquisition mistakes to avoid when buying a business. If you’re eyeing a deal, this will help you avoid the blind spots that can quietly erode its value before day one.

Why are more small to mid-sized business transactions being structured with seller financing instead of traditional bank loans? One reason is that 60% of small business acquisitions include some form of seller financing. In these transactions, the seller of a business agrees to finance a portion of the purchase price, documented through a promissory note that defines interest rate, repayment terms, and collateral. This arrangement often makes the difference between a stalled negotiation and a closed deal, especially in cases where bank or SBA financing falls short or can’t accommodate the specific structure the buyer and seller need. It also signals seller confidence in the business’s ongoing performance, since repayment depends on the buyer’s ability to run the business effectively.

Seller financing can lead to a higher sale price, increase income through interest, and expand the buyer pool to include qualified individuals who may lack full third-party funding. For buyers, it lowers upfront capital needs, preserves liquidity for operations, and simplifies the qualification process compared to rigid bank underwriting. Deals close faster, and the seller often stays engaged post-sale, improving continuity. This article breaks down how seller financing works in mergers and acquisitions, outlines the advantages for both buyers and sellers, and explains when this structure makes the most strategic sense.

For most owners, selling a business is a once-in-a-lifetime event—one that carries enormous financial and personal significance. Yet, too often, sellers underestimate one of the most critical decisions in the process: selecting the right business broker. In fact, owners who attempt to sell without professional representation face a 60%–70% lower chance of successfully closing a deal.

Preparing to sell your company involves numerous critical steps, but few impact the final sale price as directly as enhancing your Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA). Buyers frequently use EBITDA as a key metric to determine business value, often applying an EBITDA multiple based on industry standards, growth potential, and perceived risk. Therefore, understanding how to increase EBITDA before selling is essential for business owners seeking to maximize their exit value.

What happens when leadership in a family-owned business changes hands—but no one knows exactly how, when, or to whom? According to PwC’s 2023 Family Business Survey, only 34% of family businesses have a formal succession plan in place, even though 76% expect to pass ownership to the next generation. That gap poses a risk to the entire enterprise.