Sale to Transwestern
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Situation
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Our practice group emerged from the recession better and stronger, doubling revenues between 2009 and 2012.
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The partners believed we had maximized our potential as a local boutique service provider and wanted to test the acquisition waters as global brokerage firms were actively buying up teams and shops.
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But getting 11 partners with divergent interests to agree was going to be a herculean challenge.
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Action
I lead the 18-month process which began with hiring a consulting firm to identify the merits and perils of selling the company and to create a decision matrix based on the good of the firm rather than the personal self interests of the partners.
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We modified the operating agreement to properly balance the rewards paid to current value creators and legacy partners.
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We cleaned up our internal processes and readied the firm for outside examination.
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Result
We obtained offers from four national firms and evaluated the short and long-term benefits of each.
We horse-traded capital and opportunity among the partners until each obtained enough of what they needed to move forward.
We sold the assets of the company to Transwestern in January 2014, and all but one of the 30 producers and team members made the move and enjoyed the fruits of the change event.
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