Five Seller Types, Five Tailored Selling Strategies
The 5 seller types: The Exhausted Owner – Burnt out, just wants out – Lead with simplicity and speed The Legacy Protector – Cares about staff and reputation – Lead with your transition plan The Price Maxxer – Focused purely on number – Lead with structure that gets them there over time The Reluctant Seller – Not sure they want to sell – Lead with relationship, plant the seed, call back in 6 months The Motivated Retiree – Ready, just needs the right buyer – Move fast, be decisive, close it
Ignore Personal Details, Prioritize Cash Flow and Deal Structure
Things that do not matter in an acquisition: – Your personal credit score – Your savings account balance – Your age – Your industry background – Whether you've done it before – What your friends think – Whether you feel ready Things that do matter: – The target's cash...
Salesforce to Issue $25B Debt for Share Buyback
Salesforce $CRM is reportedly planning to sell as much as $25 billion worth of debt in order to fund its share buyback plan - Bloomberg
TALK Commands ~3× Revenue Multiple, Outpacing Digital Health
This is actually good news for health-tech. TALK’s takeout multiple of ~3.0x revenues actually represents a fairly healthy premium to the recent digital health average (recall ACCD was taken out at ~1x). https://t.co/4FyXzAiny4
Bankers Claim $100M ARR Now Enough for IPO
"I'm hearing bankers say things like, '$100 million ARR, we could probably take that public.' I haven’t heard that in a while."
Spring IPO Surge Attracts Billionaire Investors
Looks like this spring is shaping up to be a "Billionaire Bonanza" what with Musk, Lucky, Ackman, and others lining up with IPOs...
Investors Skeptical of OpenAI's Profitability Ahead of IPO
Investors are concerned about OpenAI's ability to turn a profit -> OpenAI’s IPO Hopes Face Skeptical Investor Community "The mood is mixed. Investors expect the company to raise tens or potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in its initial public...
Pershing Square Launches $5B Closed‑end IPO, Offers Management Shares
Pershing Square has filed for a $5 billion IPO of a closed-end fund, Pershing Square USA $PSUS. Additionally, Pershing Square Inc. will go public under the symbol $PS. Buyers of the closed-end fund IPO will also receive shares in the management company. Interesting...
Asia’s Senior Bankers Jump Ship Amid Booming Deal Flow
Senior bankers in Asia are leaving for competitors at an intensifying pace as the job market heats up again on rising deal flow, sources say https://t.co/airqzDwssP @chan_cat @bergmanjonaso
Aramco Launches $3B Buyback, Re‑nationalising After IPO
Having IPO-ed only 6½ years and with a tiny free float, Saudi Aramco announces what effectively is a partial re-nationalisation with a share buyback of up to $3 billion over the next 18 months. That’s going to buy-back ~10% of...
Buy Low, Sell High: Leverage Cash‑Flow for $50M Exit
The acquisition math nobody shows you: Buy at 3–5x earnings Sell at 8–12x earnings 10 businesses × $500K profit = $5M EBITDA $5M EBITDA × 10x = $50M exit Businesses you paid nothing for Funded by the cash flow they already produced This is the game. Learn...
EchoStar Dismisses $1T SpaceX IPO, Faces $1.4B Debt
.@EchoStar's Ergen on $1 trillion+ @SpaceX IPO valuation: 'No amount is crazy here.' @HughesConnects subsidiary has $1.4B in debt due in Aug. EchoStar noncommital on paying it. @NSIL_India wants $117M in Hughes compensation for scrapping sat capacity deal. https://t.co/SLW1OgmkVx https://t.co/73JNfEGG6Z
Questioning Zero‑Marking of Jiffy Lube Private Credit Loans
"Golub Capital will act as sole administrative agent and joint lead arranger on the financing. Ares Credit funds and MidCap Financial will also act as joint lead arrangers on the financing." Should we be marking the private credit loans to Jiffy...
Ellisons' AI Story Can't Hide Overleveraged Media Fire‑sale
The question isn’t what the Ellisons will do with Paramount and WBD, but who will acquire those assets at fire-sale prices when their AI synergy narrative can no longer provide cloud cover for their pair of overleveraged legacy media companies.
DSX Raises Offer, Poison Pill Hinders GNK Takeover
$DSX isn’t giving up on acquiring $GNK - New bid at $23.50/shr (~14% above the rejected offer) - Spread ~7% - DSX (owns 14.5%) brought in $SBLK as a deal partner - Might be interesting at these levels - But keep in mind management...
Record Corporate Debt Signals Potential Credit Bubble
IS THE CREDIT BUBBLE HERE? Record Corporate Debt Explained | Trading Zone Ep. 94 https://t.co/saPNeSSafk
IPO Market Open Now, but Could Close Fast
Feb. 4: "The IPO window is wide open, but it can slam shut quickly." https://t.co/ojxYOaYx7R
Three Major M&A/SPAC Deals Unveiled Today
Today's M&A and SPAC notes $TALK to be acquired by $UHS for $5.25 cash per share, 10.3% premium, $835 million $PLMK announced a business combination with Controlled Thermal Resources $ALIS announced a business combination with GoodVision https://t.co/m3Y3HvkUbt
Trump's DOJ Shakeup Leads to Ticketmaster Settlement
When the Trump administration canned DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater, we wrote that all eyes should be on the Live Nation/Ticketmaster case -- watching to see if her ouster paved the way for a settlement. Today: Settlement.
Hong Kong IPO Debut: One Rises, Two Plunge
Monday March 9th Hong Kong IPO debuts: • Shenzhen Zhaowei Machinery & Electronics: ⬆️ 4% • Estun Automation: ⬇️ 14% • Alsco Pooling Service: ⬇️ 40%
EPF Holds Up RM11B Sunway‑IJM Takeover Amid Val
RM11B Sunway-IJM Takeover: The Great GLC Standoff The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and major institutional shareholders are officially in a holding pattern, freezing an RM11 billion power shift as the Independent Advice Circular faces strategic delays. This regulatory bottleneck creates a...
Four Loko Poised for $400M Sale Amid RTD Boom
Four Loko may be sold for $400M. Phusion Brands is exploring a sale of the Four Loko brand as the ready-to-drink category significantly outperforms beer, wine, and spirits by almost 15%. Four Loko launched in 2005 and took college campuses by storm...
Horizon Quantum to Discuss IPO Journey on March 9
$DMYY $HQ Looking forward to joining the IPO Edge fireside chat this Monday, March 9 at 1:15pm ET, alongside Harry You and Greg Gould, our CFO, to discuss Horizon Quantum’s current journey to becoming a public company. https://t.co/F5hYGF2BTl
Canadian Unicorn Sale Highlights Capital Drain to U.S., Abu Dhabi
Calgary-based tech unicorn CoolIT is speculated to be for sale for more than $3 billion. All of this value creation from this Canadian business will go to the U.S. (KKR) and Abu Dhabi (Mubadala). Sadly, this is par for the course for...
AI-Powered Merger Arbitrage Superforecaster Launched with GPT‑5.4
Balyasny has built an AI agent called Merger Arbitrage Superforecaster, with GPT‑5.4 as its reasoning engine. Merger arbitrage is one segment of investing that greatly benefits from AI. https://t.co/kQPsOW5Ww3
Secondary Market Signals Private Credit Defaults Over 20%
The thing is, the current secondary market prices of liquid private credit vehicles (BDCs) are implying a default rate north of 20%, far in excess of anything experienced during the GFC and greater than UBS’s draconian “worst case” scenario
SPAC CEO Misappropriates Funds, Refuses Repayment, Faces Prison
A SPAC CEO was caught with her hand in the cookie jar, taking money from the working capital account that she was not authorized to. When the board requested she repay the funds, she refused. While the stolen funds are a fraction...
Sell During Strong Growth, Not Market Uncertainty
We spend a lot of time at Vista Point walking founders through the considerations around WHEN to pursue a liquidity event. While external factors like the state of your vertical market are certainly important to consider, the first and foremost...
Private Credit Redemptions Stay Under 5% Cap Amid Bear Market
Despite the bear market in private credit, negative press, and poor performance of some BlackRock funds, the quarterly redemption requests for its non-traded BDC came in below the 5% cap. https://t.co/36ABXJ1FCK
Dunkin's Parent IPO Beats SpaceX and OpenAI
The year's most important IPO isn't for SpaceX or OpenAI. It would be for the parent company of Dunkin' (do I need SpaceX or OpenAI every day? nope. but my iced coffee is a nonnegotiable) https://t.co/6kXbsBReYh
MiniMed IPO Misses Expectations, Priced at $20
Oof. Only IPO of the week falls way short of expectations. MiniMed priced at $20 per share, versus $25-$28 range.
Axel Springer Snags Telegraph, Undermines RedBird‑IMI Deal
SCOOP: AXEL Springer to buy Telegraph, gate crashing an earlier deal RedBird IMI had with the Daily Mail. With dream team @DanielThomasLDN @ArashMassoudi https://t.co/JXU4G9iMuj
Terminal Values Are Just DCF Shortcuts via Multiples
Terminal values are themselves short-hands for DCFs. This is because a terminal value is essentially a multiple. And a multiple is a short-cut for a DCF. More in the memo below 👇
Chamath's SPAC Commands 10.5% NAV Premium, Out
Believe it or not but @chamath's current SPAC, $AEXA, trades at the highest NAV premium of all pre-deal SPACs (by a long shot). $AEXA trades at a 10.5% premium to NAV, while the next highest valued are below a 2.5% premium. Despite...
Find Burnt‑Out Profitable Owners Ready to Seller‑Finance
There are businesses generating $600K profit right now with owners who: • Haven’t had a holiday in 3 years • Have no succession plan • Would seller-finance the whole deal just to escape You just need to know how to find them and what...
Avoid All 8 IPOs: Market Conditions Signal
My Final Decision for All IPO : Avoid ❌ So, Out of 8 IPO - I personally asked to avoid all 8 IPO 🥲 It was best decision as per market conditions and situation. 🔴 Because, all of these IPO listed -ve @champ_trader
Firms Use Repo‑Like Loans to Hide Debt
“The firms are using repo-like loans from one particular investment bank to mask debt, the letter says.” https://t.co/YLQH5cPi6f
Goldman Banker Hides Employer; Barclays Banker Doesn’t.
The Goldman banker was smart enough not to let them print that he works there. The Barclays banker though... https://t.co/XQUyhDbCNS
Exploring SpaceX IPO, Covid Legacy, iPod's Music Revolution
✍️ Longform links: a look at a potential SpaceX IPO, the long-term health impacts of Covid, and how the iPod changed our relationship with music. https://t.co/6bSrheJuzD image: https://t.co/vMSvzVUcJK https://t.co/8bTwTklNAR
Delayed Coverage of $20 Million Loan Write‑down Emerges
Not sure why the write-down of a $20 million loan that was disclosed nearly two months ago is news but here we are https://t.co/lfuuXrqdYg
Pasqal‑Bleichroeder Deal Targets $2B Valuation by 2026
Pasqal / Bleichroeder Acquisition II deal overview Quantum computing company $2.0 billion enterprise value Closing H2 2026 PR: https://t.co/Y8kjd8LJdO IR deck: https://t.co/27uxUkWA9t Disclosure: Long $BBCQ shares + warrants in $ARB.to https://t.co/EfgkoWpFiI
Five Unexpected Companies That Could Acquire PayPal
Who Should Acquire PayPal? 5 Potential Acquirers Nobody’s Talking About PayPal is now considered to be a prime acquisition target. Who besides Stripe would be a good acquirer? Here are 5 potential candidates. Try to keep an open mind. https://t.co/rrD4BdDrG8
SpaceX's $1.75T IPO Dream Defies $20B Revenue Reality
SpaceX provably has revenues of less than $20bn and loses money after the merger with xAI, but is targeting a $1.75 TRILLION IPO. So FTAV explored how Musk might try to pull off what could be the biggest bagholder operation...
Skipping Due Diligence: A Straightforward Legal Mistake
Nah. It was cut-and-dried law. He signed the deal and chose not to do the due diligence.
AI Poised to Upend Software, Jeopardizing Private Equity
The Extinction of Private Equity? My latest memo on the potential of AI to disrupt the software industry and its effect on private equity: https://t.co/GMi44JG2PQ https://t.co/oZYyMnfppx
Selling Your Business Can Accelerate Its Growth
Selling your business may be the best way to help it grow. Hear what Smita Bakshi, co-founder of zyBooks, has to say on the matter: https://lnkd.in/efcrW6dN #mergersandacquisitions #startupexits #investmentbanking #saasfounders #software #saas #tech #founders #pathtoexit
Learn From the Suits: Master Bigger Financial Games
There are so many financial games being played that we don't even know exist. There's a scene in Batman where they take over the trading floor and one of the traders says "there's no money here that you can steal" Bane replies...
PE‑
Major narrative violation but a private equity-owned SaaS company, financed by *gasp* private credit, is rapidly building out its AI capabilities. https://t.co/DOGvFQyXdN
Software Buyout Lending Shows Near‑zero Default
No wonder direct lending to software buyouts was so popular. Out of 300+ loans that Blue Owl has made since inception, only one has defaulted. That one loan was to finance Vista Equity's $3.5 billion buyout of Pluralsight in 2021. Blue Owl...
Company Sells OpCo, Returns 90% Proceeds, Exceeds Market Cap
Sale followed by a large capital return - Co selling its entire OpCo while returning 90% of the proceeds to shareholders - Distributions alone exceed the co's current mcap - Plus you get a RemainCo with meaningful net cash and a small growth...