Allen Business Advisors: Transforming M&A Landscape through Innovative Strategies

Allen Business Advisors (ABA) is a superior mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisor/business brokerage firm. They differentiate themselves by ensuring their seller clients are paid at closing.

A nationwide firm, ABA sells engineering and land surveying businesses to outside third parties and key employees. It caters to the neglected niche of businesses that are too complex for many Main Street Brokers and too small for M&A firms that prefer businesses with sales over $10,000,000.

ABA is comprised of three former Commercial Loan Officers with seven decades of banking and business brokerage experience. Their insights into the banking landscape help buyers secure faster loan approvals.

"Frequently, employees are ideal buyers but are overlooked because owners don’t believe they have the money to purchase the business, and they don’t want to be the bank. When sellers accept payment via installment loans, they take on a disproportionate amount of risk. As a result, ABA calls it the ‘Parent Loan,’” says John Allen, managing partner at Allen Business Advisors.

Businesses acquired by employees tend to thrive due to their in-depth knowledge of their customers, systems, processes, and culture. There is also a higher level of care, knowing that the seller trusts them with their legacy.
To that end, ABA has devised a solution to make this process manageable and feasible for employees and business owners. Its innovative Step-Up Legacy Plan helps trusted employees become owners by evaluating the business, negotiating the deal, structuring the transaction, and arranging SBA Bank financing.

Frequently, buyers invest as little as 10 percent and receive loans that include money for working capital. The loans also benefit sellers who would otherwise need to wait years to receive deferred payments.

For example, when the owner of Phasor Corporation was ready to sell, he was open to the idea of an employee purchase but required payment in full at the closing. The potential buyers were unsuccessful in securing a loan from local banks. The seller contacted ABA, who provided advice and assistance to both parties using its Step-Up Legacy Plan. ABA successfully brokered the sale, enabling the seller to pass along the business to his trusted employees and ensuring that the seller was paid in full at the closing. The loan secured also included money for working capital.

Imparting wisdom on the best practices for buying and selling is a key part of ABA’s business model. Its leaders routinely speak at engineering and land surveying conferences on topics such as the Process of Selling a Business, How to Buy a Business, and How to Improve Business Value. Many states grant continuing education credit when they speak. Their videos are also available on YouTube.

ABA has built a large database of prospective buyers that they have met at these conferences. These buyers have told them that they want to buy an engineering or land surveying business. Initially, ABA markets businesses for sale to their database. If this doesn’t yield a buyer, they market the businesses using videos. According to experts, people are six times more likely to watch a video than read text.

Leveraging its vast experience and contacts within the M&A market, ABA has earned the reputation of the ideal partner for anyone looking to buy or sell an engineering or land surveying company. A comprehensive understanding of financial and non-financial factors that influence success enables it to offer unbiased advice and guidance to its customers.