The M/A Environment for Marketing Firms

Webinar: There has never been this amount of activity in the merger/acquisition space for marketing firms. The other good news is that there have been positive changes in the earnout structure, in the multiples for some firms, and in the term mix at closing. But there is bad news, too: lower multiples for some firms, higher standards for acquisition targets, and fewer reasons to close in the first place. We have led 140+ equity transaction events, and this is our first webinar showing you what's taking place behind the scenes. So many things have changed, and they have a direct bearing on you:

• Earnouts were always five years. Now they are three, and we have been able to negotiate even shorter ones.
• Multiples of EBIDTA historically hovered in the 4x-6x range. None are there now. Instead, most categories are lower and two categories are higher.
• Compensation methods to M/A consultants have changed, for two reasons.
• Of the five (soon to be four) large, publicly-trading holding firms, which ones are on a buying spree, and what are their criteria.
• Who else might you work with besides us. There are three others that do great work in this field.
• What you can expect in a valuation. Why our method uses weighted averages. Why incorporating no more and no less than two methods is critical. Why normalizing your compensation can benefit you. Why client concentration requires a fixed, mathematical adjustment schedule (ours is the only valuation method that does).
• Why the terms are so much more important than the price, how the term buckets haven't changed, but how the payment type has.
• How to evaluate some of the options: selling to a key employee; merging; being acquired; holding out and continuing to make good money; ESOP (God forgiven you for even thinking of this); participating in a roll-up (hand over some of what you're smoking).