Congratulations to Alistair Hood and his fellow shareholders on the successful sale of their business Ashton Manufacturing to Reilly Best. Ashtons are the leading casket manufacturer in Australia.
Congratulations to Stuart Edgely and his team at Emerald on the successful sale of their Alarm division to Red Smoke Alarms. The merged entities have now re-branded as K.P.S Australia Pty Ltd. We wish the buyer and the vendors well, confident there is strong alignment and a good-fit and that this deal made sense for everyone.
Following the gradual recovery in global M&A markets through 2024, the outlook for 2025 suggests solid grounds for optimism. According to Goldman Sachs' Investment Banking Outlook, the recent reductions of interest rates and improved market conditions as well as the greater certainty resulting from the determination of the US election is expected to support increased deal activity, particularly in the middle market segment.
When you think of entrepreneurial success, you might picture a lone wolf conquering the corporate world. But what if the secret to success is collaboration? Kelly Jamieson, co-founder of Edible Blooms, sat down with Mike for the Troubleshooters Podcast over a year ago to share her inspiring journey of building a thriving business with her sister. A year on, I have been reflecting on the invaluable insights she shared.
Back in June 2024, I had the chance to chat with Tom Waterhouse on The Troubleshooters Podcast. We covered a lot of ground, but one topic really stuck with me—the big question most business owners face after selling: what’s next? It’s something I hear all the time from clients, and Tom’s experience sheds light on that particular dilemma.
James Thompson has written a piece in the AFR citing Gary Wiess' advice to CFO’s, suggesting, they focus on the numbers, “of course.”
He goes on to say “At the very basic level, it is the accumulation of the financial data in a cohesive, coherent manner that can be understood.” Sounds simple but as Weiss says, “it’s not always a given.”
In my first experience with selling a business, I scaled up from a single pizza delivery shop to 84 stores, only to realize I had undersold the business. Here's what I learned during my first M&A deal and why you shouldn’t rush in without some help.
Selling your business is likely to involve a major mismatch in terms of the scale and size of the likely buyer. Getting in the ring with them by yourself and without a clear strategy, might not work out so well for you.
Selling a business isn't like selling a house. A business is a dynamic asset—customers, management, staff, stock, IP, and goodwill all contribute. The key is to always run your business professionally and profitably, focusing on value creation and risk mitigation. So why wait until you’re ready to sell? Here are my top 10 tips to prepare your business before you sell.
Publicising your intention to sell makes your business vulnerable to perceptions of instability among staff, competitors, clients, and suppliers. Small to medium-sized companies are delicately balanced, and the last thing an owner needs is staff hearing rumours that the business is for sale.
We are often asked at Oasis Partners, when there is market volatility or other geopolitical uncertainties, whether it’s still a good time to sell a business. The reality is that we are selling most of our clients to much larger corporate acquirers where there are strong synergies and reasons to do a deal.
At Oasis Partners we are seeing about half our transactions are shareholders selling for age related reasons, retirement or health. The other half are selling for other reasons such as wanting a change or feeling that a merger would provide benefits at their particular stage of the business lifecycle.
It turns out the average retirement age for Australians is the highest it's been since the 1970s. With apparently 20% of new employment since 2019 being people aged 55 and above!
It turns out the average retirement age for Australians is the highest it's been since the 1970s. With apparently 20% of new employment since 2019 being people aged 55 and above!
When I wrote our M&A Outlook in the first quarter, I argued that the deal market remained resilient despite the geopolitical noise, and that the mid-market would continue to be where the real action was in 2026. Halfway through the year, the evidence is stacking up on both fronts.
I started my first business in 1987: a pizza home delivery chain in the UK, back when the concept was still a novelty. By 1990, we had grown to 84 outlets and captured 15% market share. Two years later, at just 28 years old, I sold the business to the market leader, Perfect Pizza.
Australia’s IT Managed Services sector is a significant and fast-growing part of the business landscape. According to IMARC Group, the Australian managed services market reached approximately AUD $8.5 billion in 2024 and is forecast to grow to around AUD $15.9 billion by 2033 .
Three weeks ago, in Omaha, Nebraska, something quite extraordinary happened. For the first time in decades, Warren Buffett — the most celebrated investor of our era — sat in the arena as a spectator while someone else ran the show.
The Peter Warren–Wakeling transaction is a textbook example of a well-structured deal caught in the slow lane — not by market conditions, but by the machinery of government approval.