Nationally, less than one out of every five businesses that goes on the market sells, according to VR Business Brokers, a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based specialist in the brokering of small and mid-sized businesses.
The VR Business Brokers’ San Diego office has joined with three local experts to host a seminar to provide people buying or selling a business with an in-depth knowledge of the sales process and to offset that 80 percent unsold category.
The seminar is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon, Oct. 26, at the Doubletree Hotel Mission Valley, located at 7450 Hazard Center Drive.
Bill Lange, principal of VR Business Brokers’ Sabre Springs office, said San Diego is a city of small businesses. He estimated that San Diego has 120,000 businesses, and of those, 90,000 have sales of less than $1 million annually.
Lange said understanding what businesses sell for in San Diego, how to negotiate price, why deal structures affect price and terms, and how to finance a purchase are all concerns of business buyers and sellers. He estimated nearly 98 percent of business sales transactions take place between first-time business buyers and sellers.
“Knowing what goes on in a sale before putting it up or buying is important,” Lange said. “It is a very complex process and this seminar provides a real solid overview of the entire buying and selling process.”
Voices Of Experience
“Buying and Selling Businesses: The Experts’ View,” will focus on taxation issues, legal aspects of transactions, and business financing from the perspective of business brokers, accountants, Small Business Administration loan specialists and transactional attorneys.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about the buying and selling process,” Lange said. “Hearing about the process from people who are involved with business sales everyday is the best way to learn the things a buyer or seller needs to know.”
Ken Oppeltz, VR Business Brokers principal and moderator for the seminar, said the seminar allows business buyers or sellers the opportunity to gain a tremendous amount of knowledge in a very short time.
“We have done our best to distill the complex business sales process into a concise, three-hour seminar that can take the place of hundreds of hours of investigating and research,” Oppeltz said.
VR Business Brokers’ offices are independently owned and operated. The San Diego office, officially Vanguard Resource Group, opened in 1989, and since then has been a San Diego market leader in business sales, mergers and acquisitions, divestures and business valuations.
The VR Business Brokers’ Sabre Springs office has generated the highest revenues of the 90 offices worldwide for three out of the past five years. The office assisted in selling 51 businesses in 2005, totaling more than $56 million in sales.
The office employs 10 staff consisting of two principals, five broker associates and three support staff.
Lineup Of Speakers
Featured speakers include Lange; Mark A. Krasner, one of the founding partners of La Jolla-based Blanchard, Krasner, and French; Keith McLaurin of University Towne Center-based CIT Small Business Lending; and Jeanne Taylor, certified public accountant at Grice, Lund and Tarkington LLO’s North County office.
Q & A;’s To Follow Presentations
Each of the speakers will present an overview of their area of expertise and will also be available to answer questions.
Lange, of Scripps Ranch, has more than 30 years of business experience, including senior management positions in private and public companies and business ownership. He spent 10 years as the chief marketing and business development officer for San Diego-based Mail Boxes Etc., now the UPS Store, before joining VR Business Brokers’ in 2000.
Krasner will address the legal aspects of transactions at the seminar. Krasner has more than 30 years of experience as a CPA and attorney. He focuses his practice on real estate, tax planning, mergers and acquisitions, and international business.
McLaurin, of Rancho Penasquitos, will speak on business financing with a focus on SBA lending. He said potential buyers often question how to access capital for a purchase.
McLaurin is the regional account manager for CIT Small Business Lending, the nation’s No. 1 SBA lender for the past six years.
Taylor will speak on transaction taxation issues.
The seminar costs $29.95 for pre-registration and $39.95 at the door.
For information or to register, visit www.vrsandiego.com or call VR at (858) 391-3388.
