A Santa Maria perspective
Fund, competitor, or local buyer: how to assess who should buy your business
Questions for comparing buyers by their proposal, ability to close, and operating plans, rather than by category or price alone.
Choosing a buyer means choosing who to negotiate with about your company's future. Price matters, alongside payment terms, closing conditions, and plans for the team and operations. The buyer's category is a starting point, not a guarantee of how they will act.
Understand each buyer's proposal
A strategic buyer may want to complement its products, customers, or capabilities. Ask what it would preserve and what it would integrate with other operations. Assess the specific plan without assuming that integration necessarily means either cuts or continuity.
When considering an investment fund, ask about its ownership horizon, acquisition financing, and intended role in management. Funds do not all follow the same timetable or strategy; ask for an explanation specific to your business.
Apply the same scrutiny to a local buyer. Proximity may make communication easier, but it does not replace financial capacity, relevant experience, or a clear operating plan.
Compare proposals, not just profiles
Use the same questions for each interested buyer:
- Who makes the investment decision, and which approvals remain?
- How would the acquisition be financed, and what conditions are outstanding?
- Who would run the business after closing?
- What is the plan for the team, brand, and customer relationships?
- What is the intended ownership horizon, and what could change it?
- What experience and references can the buyer demonstrate?
For an emerging firm, distinguish its members' prior experience from acquisitions completed by the firm itself.
Consider the whole offer
Review with your advisors how much would be paid at closing, what would be deferred or conditional, and which responsibilities you would retain. Compare those terms with your own priorities: stepping away, supporting a transition, or retaining a stake. A headline number alone cannot tell you how two offers compare.
Santa Maria's approach
Santa Maria Ventures is an emerging Panama-based firm seeking to acquire and operate established businesses for the long term. Hands-on operations and continuity are priorities in our approach; we are working toward our first acquisitions.
We want founders to assess us as clearly as they would any other option. If our approach fits your goals, start a confidential conversation, with no cost or obligation.
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