Food M&A Heats Up
Over the past decade there has been a bifurcation of M&A activity in the food industry, as “better for you” health & wellness brands have attracted strong acquisition interest from both strategic and financial acquirers while more traditional steady, solid, profitable, but lower-growth food manufacturing businesses have not attracted as much attention. That is changing […]

The 4 P’s of Business Valuation
How can business owners increase the valuation of their business prior to an M&A transaction or business sale? Mirus recently collaborated with other Boston-area trusted advisors (including a leading accounting firm, law firm, and commercial bank) to gather 40 business buyers and sellers for a roundtable discussion of proactive steps CEOs and owners can implement […]

Top 5 Things to Do Now to Prepare Your Business For Sale
Even if you are not ready to put your company up for sale, it behooves you to start preparing now. First, most of the issues you tackle to prepare your company for sale are the same things you should focus on every day to grow and build value in your business. Second, this cannot be […]

Why Does It Take So Long to Sell My Business?
The bad news for business owners who are ready to sell their company and retire is that it takes much longer than you might anticipate to close the deal. According to the Pepperdine 2014 Private Capital Markets Project, only 25% of deals close in less than six months. So why does it take so long? […]

Brand Equity Builds Stockholder Equity
To build enterprise value in the food & beverage industry, build brand equity. Consumer loyalty to a brand generates repeat purchases; repeat purchase patterns create annuity-like cash flows; recurring revenues reduce investors’ and acquirers’ perceptions of risk and increase the valuation paid for the brand marketer’s stock or business. But how do you cook up […]

Harpoon Brewery: What’s Beer Got To Do With M&A?
Well, not much, really, except that Charlie Storey, President, and Warren Dibble, the CFO of Harpoon Brewery completed an ESOP of the company last summer. They’re coming to this year’s XPX Summit on March 19th at the Waltham Woods Conference Center to tell their story. Check out their video to get a taste. Oh – […]

If Google Steps In It Regarding Independent Contractor vs. Employee, How Can You Protect Yourself?
If Google, a publicly-traded company with about $40 billion in annual revenue, can’t figure out if someone is an independent contractor or an employee, what does this mean for you? An article from Reuters last week, notes that Google is being sued by a former contractor, Jacob McPherson, alleging violation of federal labor standards, and that […]

“$163 million?!!!? Hey, Terminate ME!” (Break-up fees in the middle market)
Hillshire Brands agreed last month to acquire Pinnacle Foods for $4.3 billion in a deal intended to broaden Hillshire’s product offerings beyond Ball Park hot dogs, Jimmy Dean sausages, and other protein products by adding Pinnacle’s roster of iconic grocery brands including Birds Eye, Mrs. Paul’s, Log Cabin, Duncan Hines, Vlasic and more. The market […]
