For many owners, private equity feels like a black box: a buyer shows up with a multiple, some debt, and a term sheet, and it is hard to tell whether you are getting a fair shake or being set up for a painful re-trade later.
In this Inside the Mind of an Acquirer episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow sits down with Speyside Equity managing director Eric Wiklendt to unpack how an operator-led private equity firm thinks about valuation, structure, and transforming a manufacturing company after the deal, so you discover how to:
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See why one company might fetch 4 times EBITDA and another 8 times, and which practical levers move your multiple higher.
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Spot the customer concentration trap that can knock a full turn or more off your valuation when a single client dominates your EBITDA.
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Decode how private equity funds really make money, and why many owners would be better off in an index fund than in the wrong PE partner.
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Recognize the telltale signs of a buyer who bids high only to re-trade 25 to 30 percent off the price during diligence.
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Use smarter leverage decisions to avoid the soul-sucking reality of running an over-indebted company after the sale.
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Identify the three operational moves Speyside Equity uses to turn a good business into a true platform: aligning management, rationalizing customers and products, and fixing an inefficient footprint.
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Reframe the emotional connection to a company so negotiations are driven by facts and risk, not by how hard the last crisis was to survive.
If you are a business owner who may one day sell to private equity, this conversation with Eric Wiklendt will give you a clearer view of how a sophisticated buyer is really looking at your company.
Quote of the Week
If the business has the capacity to borrow three times its EBITDA on the strength of its earnings, why sell to private equity at all instead of just going to the bank yourself?
Deals
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SIREN GROUP AG, the parent company of HomeBuddy, agreed to sell the business to QuinStreet for $115 million dollars in cash at closing plus $75 million dollars in post-closing earn-out payments over four years. HomeBuddy, a digital marketplace matching homeowners with home-service pros, generated 141 million dollars in revenue, valuing the business at roughly 1.35x revenue when including the full earn-out.
