A recent Insights Podcast with Rob Normandeau, the Managing Partner & President of SeaFort Capital highlighted two important trends in Atlantic Canada.
SeaFort focuses on the business services and industrial sectors but is not limited to those sectors. Companies need to have a minimum EBITDA of $2 million and up to about $15 million EBITDA to be of interest to SeaFort. The company seeks a majority interest in the companies with whom it partners.The transition to a green economy will require enormous capital investments in the region.
According to Entrevestor, there are more than 800 tech start-ups in the region. Then there is the transition of generational business ownership that needs to be funded. It is safe to say the demand for capital in our region has never been greater. Tens of thousands of businesses will change hands over the next decade or so. CFIB estimates that 76 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses will be up for sale in the next decade, as aging baby boomers sell their businesses in growing numbers.
Business value is most often based on the free cash flow generated by the business, the so-called EBITDA. Then a multiplier is applied to this number which varies by both type and size of business. Business value is based on what is a reasonable period for the new owners to recuperate the cost of buying a business.
This is particularly true for smaller businesses, where business owners often find themselves without a family member or a successor to take over the business. As one of those boomers, I recently completed a senior management buyout myself of my former company, Corporate Research Associates Inc. . It took a considerable amount of planning and time to be able to execute a successful MBO.