Business Brokers' Fees

One of the first questions business sellers ask me as a business broker in Toronto, Ontario is "what are your fees?" Business owners contemplating the sale of their companies generally consider fee structure a very important criterion for the selection of a broker to work with. The business brokerage/Intermediation/ Mergers and acquisition markets offer a variety of fee structures depending on the size of the transaction and the nature of the services offered. Businesses of less than $100,000 in value generally sell through Real Estate Agents who sell mostly real estate and a few businesses on the side per year. The service offered is merely putting an ad in MLS and showing potential buyers the business. The seller does most of the selling and answers buyers' questions. The Real Estate salesperson charges a flat fee of $10,000 or 10% of the value of the transaction on closing. A real estate agent can hardly make living selling businesses only because a large percentage (over 90%) of these small businesses never sell. Businesses between $100,000 and $1M in value generally sell through business brokers/Intermediaries. In the province of Ontario, Canada and some US states, business intermediaries need to be real estate licensed. These brokers tend to offer a wider range of services including, business valuation, exit strategy consulting, preparation of a sales package or an offering memorandum, buyer screening and confidential marketing etc. Their fees generally range from 8% to 12% of the price of the transaction and is generally paid on closing. Some intermediaries charge a non refundable retainer between $1000 at $10,000 after signing the listing agreement. Businesses of these sizes generally have higher probabilities of selling because they are more professionally prepared for the sale. Because of the absence or the small amount of retainer charged, the number of sellers changing their minds about selling in the middle of the sale process tends to be very high. Some sellers tend to simply taste the waters to see how much their businesses are worth with no intention of selling. This ends-up costing a lot of time to business intermediaries. carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula carchula Businesses between $1M and $5M in value tend to sell through business brokers/Intermediaries who specialize in the lower middle market segment. These are more sophisticated business brokers who generally have a good understanding of Finance and Business Strategy and have the necessary people/sales skills to help in the long and tedious negotiation process. These intermediaries generally help in the business evaluation and provide advice to business sellers to maximize the business value. Some intermediaries prepare a short business summery of a few pages with summarized business information and industry analysis. Some but not all of these intermediaries charge a non-refundable retainer between $2,000 and $20,000. The success fee/ commission charged on closing of transactions is generally 10% of the first million dollars and 1% to 5% of the balance. This segment of the brokerage industry has been impacted the most by the Internet and the profession has been open to new entrants who do not have deep connections within traditional industry players. Business listings are simply advertised through large business for sale websites and generally attract a large enough pool of buyers to locate a serious buyer. Businesses between $5M and $50M in value are sold through Mergers and Acquisitions Intermediaries/Advisors. Those professionals generally process more advanced finance skills and are capable of detailed business valuations. They also offer more extensive sales package for the businesses to be sold. The sales package involves an extensive interview with the business owner and some key employees and a determination of the key success factors for the business, a detailed industry analysis and potential synergies and/or opportunities for expansion for potential buyers. Because the sales package involves a large number of hours of work, most M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) Intermediaries charge a non-refundable retainer between $10,000 and $50,000. Charging a retainer also insures that only serious business sellers will list their businesses. While this practice tends to reduce the number of potential listings that an Intermediary will have at a certain time, it does insure a much higher quality of listings, meaning motivated sellers and realistic prices. On top of the retainer, these intermediaries charge a success fee using the Lehman or Double Lehman formulas. These formulas consist of charging a declining percentage on each million dollar of value ( 5% of first million + 4% of the second million + 3% of the third million + 2% of the fourth million + 1% of any balance) or (5% for first and second million + 4% for third and fourth million + 3% of the balance).