Business Brokers

Mergers and Acquisitions Brokers/Intermediaries/Advisers are generally small firms specialised in the sale of middle market companies, where Middle market companies are defined as companies with market value over $5M. While the M&A process tends to differ depending on the size of the businesses available for sale, it is very common that M&A brokers represent the interest of the sellers and are paid by sellers.

Business sellers are frequently confused about the term "Business Brokers" vs. "Mergers and Acquisitions Intermediaries". In general terms Mergers and Acquisitions Intermediaries deal with larger businesses, generally more than $5M in value while Business Brokers focus on small and lower middle market businesses with less than $5M in company value. Below are some basic differences between the two very similar professions:

 

Business brokerage is a growing industry thanks to the baby boomer generation getting ready for retirement. A large number of small businesses owned by baby boomers are expected to become available for sale in the next few years. The need for business brokerage services is expected to increase. Furthermore, statistics have proved that the average business broker in North America earns above average income. So, what do you need to do in order to join this promising profession and become a business broker?

The greater Toronto Area (GTA) is the largest metropolitan area in Canada with more than 5 million inhabitants. It is also one of the most buoyant business marketplaces in Canada with thousands of businesses changing hands every year. The purchase of a business in the GTA remains however a very challenging endeavour for the following reasons:

Business brokerage is a relatively unknown profession. Very few business sellers or buyers think of business brokers as service providers before buying or selling a company. Moreover, business brokers rarely advertise their services through the media simply because their clients principally business owners who are ready to sell their businesses and who's business is sellable. Furthermore, there is generally a few number of business brokers in every city.

As a business broker in Toronto, I frequently receive calls from small business owners who are seriously looking to sell their businesses. unfortunately,  a majority of these businesses are simply to sell-able. These business owners mistakenly believe that businesses brokers can sell any type of businesses including recently started businesses that are not making money. This cannot be further from the truth.

There are various professional associations in North America especially dedicated to business brokers. These associations provide a variety of services to their members mostly centred around networking, broker education, government lobbying, broker certification and conferences arrangement in addition to many other services. I am personally a member of the following organisations:

When thinking about the possibility of selling their businesses, most business owners wonder whether they should hire a broker. Seller generally have two major concerns:

The business brokerage profession is relatively an unknown profession. Many business owners don't really know who to talk to when they contemplate selling their businesses. Business buyers don't know more neither. They come across a business broker when responding to a business for sale ad on the newspaper or on the Internet. The purpose of this website is to clarify the business brokerage profession to buyers and sellers. Please feel free to browse our articles and links for deep information about this profession.