Brian Rogers
March 3, 2014
So you want to buy a business and you’re not sure how to pay for it. There are a number of ways to pay for a new business, but the most common are cash at closing, seller financing in the form of deferred cash payments or promissory notes, securities issued by the purchaser, and contingent payments. Contingent payments aren’t so much a form of payment as much as a means of determining the final price of the business assets, but I’ll throw it into the mix because if you’re wondering how to pay for a business, you might want to consider negotiating contingent payments.
Cash at closing
Cash at closing is the simplest form of payment. Sometimes the buyer has cash available without the need for financing, but the cash is often obtained via a bank loan taken out for purposes of funding the acquisition and possibly mezzanine financing provided as a junior loan to the bank loan. The bank generally secures its loan with a blanket lien on all of the assets of the acquired business, and the loan agreement often contains covenants that restrict the buyer’s business operations in some ways.
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Brian Rogers
February 26, 2014
The problem with paying for a business acquisition is coming up with the money. The buyer’s savings is a key component of acquisition financing. And in today’s business environment, sellers generally finance at least part of the deal when they’re selling a main street business. But that often leaves a significant portion of the purchase price to be funded by other sources.
A lot of buyers turn to SBA-backed loans to bridge the gap. Is an SBA loan right for you? Here are some pros and cons to help you decide whether you should explore an SBA 7(a) loan, the type of SBA loan that’s most common for acquisition financing.
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Brian Rogers
February 20, 2014
We’ve all done it. You crank out an email intending to send a document, but you hit send before attaching the file. It’s not a big deal when you’re sending a snapshot of your dog to your best friend, but it can be a bit embarrassing when you’re emailing a critical document to your most important customer and cc’ing your boss.
Repeat after me: “I’ll never send an email without an attachment again. I’ll never send…” The good news is that you don’t have to rely on will power and discipline to keep this resolution. You just need to adjust a couple of settings in your email program.
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Brian Rogers
February 17, 2014
In How to Title a Vehicle in Missouri, I provide step-by-step instructions on how to transfer title to a vehicle, obtain a new title, and register the vehicle. In today’s post, I discuss recording a lien on a vehicle.
When you purchase a business via an asset sale, you have to transfer the assets you’re purchasing out of the seller’s company and into your company. Most assets can be transferred by having the seller sign a general bill of sale. But some assets, such as cars and trucks used in the business, have special rules.
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Brian Rogers
February 13, 2014
If you’re looking for business entity information about a Missouri company, the secretary of state’s website is a great place to start. The website has a great search tool for finding information contained in a business’s public filings. If a company is either organized or qualified to do business in Missouri, its information will be on the website.
To get to the search tool, go to the secretary of state’s website and click on the “Search for a Business” tab just below the image slider. This will take you to the search page.
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Brian Rogers
February 10, 2014
When you purchase a business via an asset sale, you must transfer the assets from the seller’s company to your new company. Many of the business’s assets can be transferred using a general bill of sale. Other assets, such as automobiles, must be transferred separately.
In Missouri, vehicles must be titled within 30 days after the date of purchase. There’s a penalty of $25 for every 30 days — up to a maximum penalty of $200 — for failure to title a vehicle on time.
To title a vehicle in Missouri, you must submit the following documents at your local license office:
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