Pivotal Moments in the Buyer’s Journey

Buying another practice can be an overwhelming undertaking. Between valuations, finding the right fit, due diligence, and continuing to run your business —it’s a lot to tackle. One of the biggest issues financial professionals face when contemplating acquisition is freeing up enough time to successfully focus and close the deal.

We’ve broken down a typical buyer’s journey to understand what you’ll need for each leg of this important expedition.

Purchase Prep

Are you prepared to buy another practice? This is the foundational step in the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) process as a buyer—determining your readiness and positioning your practice in the best way possible.

What you need:

• A detailed and accurate valuation of your own practice so that you know what you can offer
• Objective evaluation of your business strengths, and areas of opportunity, so you know what to look for in a potential acquisition
• A look at your company culture to determine what type of practice might be a good addition

Finding a Practice to Buy

Industry insight, market trends, and a pulse on what’s happening right now in the LPL Financial community will inform your choices.

What you need:

• First-look access at practices who might be interested in selling
• Real-time updates on current deal activity in the market
• Industry analysis for benchmarking

Indication of Interest

This important document sets you up for success by positioning you in the best light possible to secure and close your acquisition.

What you need:

• Availability of funds and access to financing
• Proposal of transaction structure and management retention
• An attractive bid

Due Diligence

It goes without saying, looking under the hood of your intended acquisition is one of the most important parts of buying another practice.

What you need:

• Ability to analyze targeted practice's key reported financial information
• Projections and integration hypotheticals
• Interviews with principals

Doing the Deal

Once both parties have decided to go forward with a deal, transactional support is integral to maintain agreed upon timelines and bring the deal to a successful close.

What you need:

• Skillful negotiation and knowledge on how to best close the deal
• Ability to structure post-close business formation
• Financing
• Closing documents
• Post-transaction integration support

There’s lots of work involved in successful M&A. It takes dedicated time and talent to maximize value and create a successful and timely transaction.

LPL’s M&A Solutions provides everything you need for every part of your journey. You’ll have priority support from LPL’s entire team of M&A experts to save time, reduce your costs, and facilitate a quicker integration timeline.

Your LPL M&A transaction specialist will take the lead and execute on tasks for you, freeing up your time to run your business while undertaking this important step in your business. Facilitating more than 100 deals a year, M&A Solutions can be a valuable partner if you’re looking to grow.