MM M&A 016 - Management Meetings

In previous episodes, Colonnade Advisors has outlined our unique 16-week sales process timeline in four phases: pre-marketing, go to market, management presentations/buyer due diligence, and exclusivity/documentation. 

Today’s episode focuses on phase three: management presentations/ buyer due diligence.

We invite you to listen to episode 001 for more information about phase one (pre-marketing) and episode 002 for more information about phase two (go to market).

Other episodes dive deep into technical aspects and tactics used in middle market and mergers and acquisitions.

We also invite you to download our 16-week sales process timeline for more information on how Colonnade Advisors typically approaches the process of selling a company.

In this episode, we focus on the management meetings, where we introduce our seller clients to a limited set of qualified buyers that have put forth strong offers to buy the company.

Management meetings fall on the heels of all the work Colonnade Advisors does with our clients to prepare for this stage of the sales process. At this point in the game, we’ve worked through the list of potential buyers and have narrowed the field to the most qualified. Management meetings are the first time the seller's management team will interact with this limited set of buyers.

Thus the title for our episode: Seller and Buyer’s First Date.

Key questions explored in this episode are:

• What purpose does a management meeting serve? 
• What topics are covered during management meetings?
• Who is invited?
• What’s the format for a successful management meeting?
• How has COVID19 changed how management meetings take place?
• How do we best prepare our clients? 

What purpose does a management meeting serve? (02:15)

Gina: "Management meetings are a continuation of the storytelling of the company. It is the opportunity for the management team to tell their story in their own words. 

Management meetings are different from diligence meetings—it is not a meeting for potential buyers to ask detailed questions. 

Management meetings are the showcase for the management to tell the origin story, to explain in their own words what the business does. And then, very importantly, talk about the growth opportunities.”

What topics are covered during management meetings? (04:35)

Gina: "Management presentations involve much of the confidential information memorandum but told from management's voice. Additionally, financial numbers are updated from when the confidential information memorandum was released. Sometimes, pages are added to the management presentation specific to the buyers we're meeting with. 

Jeff: "When we go to market and have one-on-one conversations with buyers and investors, different themes emerge. Some of them are new and intriguing and bring us down different paths and highlight new growth opportunities. We benefit from the collective insights and questions of up to 100 or more different investors that are looking at the acquisition from their perspective.

Once we collect all these thoughts, questions, and comments that buyers ask of us, we weave those themes into the management presentation. It is a collection of ideas that we've been able to cultivate from the market."

Who is invited to the management meetings? (08:12)

Gina: "From the seller's side, you'll have the CEO, President, the Chief Marketing Officer, the Chief Sales Officer, and the CFO. 

Management team members t