A better way to sell your business

The whole process can be as short as a few months to as long as a year or more. Our goal is to work off the seller’s pace, not set our own.

Selling a business is a significant undertaking. It takes time, requires thoughtful decision-making, and there’s a lot of information required. Questions and issues often arise – sometimes unexpectedly. DCC has considerable experience managing transactions like these, and our approach is designed to be respectful of your time by sequencing things logically and communicating openly.

Not without your expressed permission. We take our executed confidentiality agreements very seriously, and deeply appreciate the risks you could face if rumors start spreading about a potential transaction. We occasionally will need to speak to a key employee or two as we get farther into the process, but again, only do so with your explicit approval.

We don’t just look at one thing; we look at performance and potential across the business. We want to see capable local teams with strong reputations in the communities they serve. We’re clearly focused on cash flows and growth opportunities, and having a diversified segment mix with longstanding, quality customers is always a plus. We like businesses with assets that are well-invested and properly maintained. 

We’ll also do our best to assess fit. It’s really important to us that our businesses and people work well together without needing to change much. This is critical because retaining the core elements of your business is what will make us effective owners for its next phase. 

At DCC, we want to pay fair value to acquire quality businesses. That approach is at the center of everything we do. 

We get this question a lot, and the answer is no business is really too small or too big for our network. The focus is on quality, which comes in various shapes and sizes.

We typically complete outright acquisitions, where existing ownership steps away from the business after the transaction completes. In these deal structures, it’s really important for the business to have strong senior management to oversee local operations moving forward. Occasionally, we encounter owners who aren’t ready to retire, and if there’s a mutual fit, we’re always open to discussing ways they may remain involved with the business.

Sometimes it’s an outright separation, but we’ll always reach out for a cup of coffee if we’re ever in your area. Oftentimes, we’ll ask owners to stick around very temporarily, under what’s called a Transition Services Agreement, to help us navigate the ownership change. These typically don’t last for longer than six months.

Our goal is to change as little as possible, leveraging all the things that make your business what it is today while giving it access to tools, resources, and ideas from around our network. For us, it’s really important to keep your brand intact and your people engaged, as those are the key touchpoints with the communities and customers you serve. 

We place a strong emphasis on maintaining continuity for the business. Our goal is to support the team members who keep the business running every day and to provide them with opportunities for continued growth and advancement.

A long time. DCC is different than some other buyers out there who rely on future liquidity events to drive shareholder returns. We don’t go into acquisitions with specific holding period expectations. Instead, we’ll continue to fund and operate the businesses we buy for as long as it makes sense to do so.