Deal Structure & Documentation Resources
M&A marketplace activity for 2020, including how projections made in April stack up to the actual data and what we expect to see as we wrap up this unique year. Additionally, explore preparing for your ideal exit, maximizing the success of your deal, tapping into the open market advantage, and identifying the right buyer or seller for your transaction. Aired November 5, 2020
External Sale | Acquisition | Deal Structure & Documentation
A Sell and Stay® strategy provides flexibility for a seller's exit. But what's in it for the buyer? Buyers open to this type of deal not only access a larger acquisition pool, but enjoy other advantages as well. A Sell and Stay® allows for greater client retention, increased efficiencies, and talent acquisition opportunities.

Explore deal details from several recently facilitated third-party sales, including traditional sales vs, Sell and Stay® transactions for various practice types (RIA, IAR, and RR). Discover commonalities in these sales as well as unique factors that impact deal terms. Realizing your ideal exit is all about planning and how you structure the deal.

The M&A marketplace is crowded with buyers vying to score the perfect acquisition. There are a few tools you can leverage to help you get a leg up on the competition. One is getting pre-qualified for bank financing. Whether you’re planning to utilize financing through a bank or not, a pre-qualification bolsters a seller’s perception of your business strength and capacity.

With all of the modern tools for practice valuations and equity management solutions available, some financial advisors still choose to use revenue splits, or a revenue-sharing arrangement, as a makeshift succession plan. For a practice owner, this can be a poor and shortsighted business decision.Revenue splits encourage the eat-what-you-kill strategy and drive an individual’s book of business rather than support the practice as a whole.
Compensation | Succession | Continuity Planning | Entity & Business Structure | Next-Gen

In today’s marketplace, many sellers are looking for a flexible offramp that allows them to realize value while continuing to work and earn income. Buyers are concerned about effectively servicing acquired clients and finding talent. The Sell and Stay® model is a powerful strategy to align the interests of both buyers and sellers. Originally aired May 5, 2020.

One of the most common mistakes that financial advisors make in the merger and acquisitions (M&A) space is to treat every sale or acquisition target the same way. In this white paper we discuss the importance of applying the appropriate approach, documentation, and deal terms to each unique transition.
Acquisition | External Sale | Deal Structure & Documentation

Process Overview: Selling Your Practice on the Open Market
Selling your business is a big decision. You have many avenues for conducting your buyer search, but the majority of these strategies result in having to navigate the process alone. An open-market buyer search allows you to cast a wide net and find the perfect buyer while leveraging a team of experts to guide you through the entire process.
External Sale | Acquisition | Deal Structure & Documentation

Our latest book, Buying, Selling, & Valuing Financial Practices, shows you how to complete a sale or acquisition while acheiving the best possible terms for both buyer and seller. From valuations to mergers to bank financing, this book provides the perspective and skills you need to work through your deal professionally and efficiently.

Whether you are buying or selling, it is important to understand what is being bought and sold and what expectations both the buyer and seller have of each other. Absent these details, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine if an offer is fair. In this article we discuss the concept of shared risk / shared reward, how deal terms affect overall purchase price of a business, financing options, tax treatments, and common deal structures.
Deal Structure & Documentation | Acquisition | Tax & Regulatory Issues
This approach is ideal for owners who are looking to retire in the next five years but do not have an internal successor or succession team in place ready to take over the practice within that time frame. The Sell and Stay® approach allows a business owner to hand over the reins to a suitable third-party buyer, but to elongate their retirement horizon through a continued engagement with the acquiring firm.

When considering the sale of your business it’s important to explore your options, define your priorities, and understand what your business is truly worth. Exploring the sale on the open market and leveraging expert M&A guidance can help you discover the possibilities and confirm whether you’ve got a fair offer on the table already.

In this industry, professional networking and client prospecting depend on your charisma and ability to connect beyond surface pleasantries. But when it comes to selling your business, it’s important maintain confidentiality, and avoid casual negotiations without proper documentation to avoid loss of value.
Deal Structure & Documentation | External Sale | Acquisition

When an advisor sells their business they have to find the right fit; the right person to take over their business and their client relationships. This case study details the seller's journey and the sometimes surprising steps of the process that have the most impact on their decision: first-impressions, communication, and third-party pressures.

The decision to sell your business doesn’t just jump into your head one day. It takes months, perhaps years of consideration. Just as making the decision takes time, so does the actual process–and the preparation for it. This extensive checklist is designed to help guide you through your options, get your ducks in a row, and understand the realities of this detailed, and often emotional, journey.
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Non advocacy support for a transaction ensures someone is looking out for the success of the deal itself. This article explores the misconceptions most advisors have about including an experienced, impartial intermediary in the negotiation of the acquisition or sale of a financial advisory business. Data and client experiences show that an independent mediator can help avoid frustrations, miscommunications, and unexpected last minute fees.

EMS Exclusive Roundtable Talk
FPT transactions experts Rod Boutin, JD and Ericka Langone, JD discuss common areas of governance and control that many owners (existing and future) have concerns about during any (re)structuring or additions to the ownership of a financial services business.

Our Rod Boutin, J.D. and Ericka Langone, J.D. discuss the uniqueness of each merger transaction using three real life examples from the FP Transitions portfolio. The examples range from a complex 3-way, multi-owner consolidation, to a more common combining of efficiencies and resources, to a planned merger as continuity for two small businesses.

Marcus Hagood and Kelsey Herman, JD, discuss the details of funding your continuity plan, including where the money comes from, setting everything up in advance to avoid erroneous chaos, insurance options for death vs. disability, and common deal structuring for sale in the event of unexpected death or disability.

A Sell and Stay™ is an alternative path for an advisor who has unique goals and a desire for a career exit that doesn’t fit in any of the more common “exit plan” boxes. Falling somewhere between traditional merger and outright sale, the Sell and Stay™ path allows for more flexibility in your exit to accommodate your unique plans for the future. In this resource, we discuss the mechanics of the strategy, buyer and seller benefits, and important considerations.
When selling a financial services practice, you are responsible for performing your own due diligence on your buyer and their practice. This checklist covers some of the more common (and most overlooked) steps other buyers and sellers have taken.
External Sale | Acquisition | Deal Structure & Documentation
A buy-out loan can accelerate your exit plan, while a partial buy-in loan >can facilitate your staged-succession. Both are designed specifically for financial advisors to reduce risk by moving the financing responsibility from seller to bank.
EMS Exclusive Resource
This high-level overview focuses on the nuances of a third-party, asset sale and the details specific to these types of transactions, including negotiations, common terms, and mistakes to avoid during the deal making process.
External Sale | Acquisition | Deal Structure & Documentation
EMS Exclusive Resource
When drawing up the plans and documents for your Lifestyle Succession Plan unique deal structuring applies. By its nature this type of succession plan requires you to consider increment amounts for ownership transfer, what each increment is worth, and a set time table for reassessing, adjusting, and continuing the plan.
EMS Exclusive Resource
A Self-Canceling Installment Note has the advantages of both private annity and installment sales. They are used to transfer ownership stake to your heirs at no gift, estate, or inheritance tax cost while retaining a stream of income for yourself over a set period of time. This short resource covers the advantages of a SCIN in certain situations and how it works once in place.
Finding the right person to take over your business can feel like an overwhelming endeavor, but our team of experts can help you find the right buyer and provide you with non-advocacy support for the entire process–from the time you decide to sell to the time you sign closing documents.
External Sale | Deal Structure & Documentation | About FP Transitions
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The consolidation that we see every day are owners of stronger, sustainable enterprises acquiring smaller, one-generational practices about half their size. As the profession matures, practice owners are compelled to grow and improve—a very natural part of facing competition head on. But, eventually, time and energy begin to wane. As retirement, or the need to simply slow down, begins to appear on the horizon for single-owner practices, advisors are faced with few choices.
EMS Exclusive Resource
Recruiting and developing a skilled team of advisors can be a daunting challenge for the owner of a financial advisory practice. Doing that, however, is only half the battle. Once you’ve chosen and trained your next generation how do you hold on to them? How do you keep them from opening up shop across the street? Create an ownership track and make the opportunity available to the best on your team.
Internal Succession | Compensation | Business Growth | Entity & Business Structure

The success of any small business depends on its ability to recruit, reward, and retain talented advisors and support staff. Equity is often used in addition to–or in conjunction with–compensation to achieve these goals. Synthetic equity is a tool set that can provide ownership-level benefits without buying or selling actual stock in an advisory business.
Succession Management Exclusive Resource
Minority and Marketability Discounts apply to shares of privately owned companies. Both are used in the purchase and transfer of shares that do not hold full ownership rights or value. These shares are awarded/sold in various situations and include those that represent a minority equity share that is not entitled to the same voting rights that majority ownership shares do, as well as shares that cannot be easily sold on the open market due to restrictions in place by the firm.
Internal Succession | Compensation | Deal Structure & Documentation

When it comes to finding the right buyer, the prospective buyer pool need not be large if it is filled with candidates that fit your criteria and are willing to meet your terms. This case study follows the story of one seller who was left at the proverbial altar by a qualified buyer, then found a better match–and an above market offer–using the FP Transitions open market system.

There are many types of continuity agreements, all with varying levels of protection and formality. A Practice Emergency Plan ensures a level of protection without a defined continuity partner and can act as a safety net for more formalized continuity plans. Practice Emergency Plans leverage our extensive network and expertise to quickly find a qualified buyer, protecting your clients' assets and the value of your business.