M&A Business Valuation Services

Pre-market and transaction valuations for buyers and sellers. Know the defensible number before the negotiation starts.

What this engagement is

An M&A valuation answers the question that decides every deal: what is this business actually worth to a rational buyer? Sellers order it before going to market so the asking price is defensible rather than aspirational. Buyers order it before signing a letter of intent so the offer is grounded in earnings rather than adrenaline. Either way, the point is the same. The party who walks into the negotiation with a supported number, and the analysis behind it, controls the conversation.

A pre-market valuation does something else that matters: it surfaces the problems a buyer’s diligence team will find later, while there is still time to fix them. Customer concentration, owner dependence, messy add-backs, a short lease. Every one of those is cheaper to address a year before the sale than a week before closing.

Who orders it

Business owners preparing to sell, buyers evaluating an acquisition, and the advisors who serve both: M&A advisors, business brokers, CPAs, and attorneys who want an independent number in the file before their client commits. We work as the valuation partner behind the deal team. Your client, your relationship, our analysis.

What standard governs it

The engagement is prepared under NACVA professional standards, as either a calculation of value or a conclusion of value depending on what the situation requires. For most pre-market and negotiation work, a calculation of value fits: the analyst and client agree on the approaches, and the result is a supported number without the cost of a full opinion. When the deal involves dissenting shareholders, earnout disputes, or anything headed toward a courtroom, we prepare a full conclusion of value.

What the deliverable looks like

A written report that presents normalized earnings with every adjustment itemized, applies the income and market approaches with genuinely comparable transactions rather than industry codes, and reconciles the results to a concluded range. Sellers also receive the list of value drivers and value killers we found, ranked by what they cost you at the closing table. That list is often worth more than the number.

Timeline

Most M&A valuation engagements deliver in two to four weeks from receipt of complete financials. If a live negotiation needs a number faster, say so at the first call and we will tell you honestly whether the timeline is achievable.

How the process works

For sellers, the engagement starts with the financials and ends with two documents: the valuation itself and the punch list. We normalize three to five years of earnings, verify every add-back against the records, build the comparable transaction set from private databases by size, industry, and geography, and conclude a supported range. Then we walk you through what a buyer’s lender will see, because the buyer’s enthusiasm does not close the deal. The lender’s underwriting does.

For buyers, the sequence is the same analysis pointed the other direction. We test the seller’s asking price against normalized earnings and real transactions, quantify the risk factors the broker package glosses over, and give you a supported walk-away number before you sign the letter of intent. The cheapest deal problem is the one you price correctly before you commit.

Why the multiple is the argument

Two businesses with identical earnings routinely sell for numbers that differ by 40 percent or more, because the multiple prices risk. Owner dependence, customer concentration, quality of the books, recurring versus project revenue, lease terms. In a negotiation, whoever explains the multiple with evidence wins the argument about the multiple. That is the practical value of an independent valuation in an M&A setting: it converts an argument about opinions into an argument about documented facts, and documented facts favor the prepared side.

Where to start

If you are twelve months or more from a sale, start with the no-cost indication of value at indication.oakstonevaluationgroup.com and find out where you stand. If you are in or near a transaction now, contact us and we will scope the right engagement tier the same week.