.png)
About Us
Total Advisory Partners specialises in advising owners of small to medium size businesses on the sale of their business. We advise on all aspects of sale preparation and sale execution. We also advise on acquisitions, prepare valuation reports and develop strategic plans to increase business value in advance of a future sale.
Why We’re Different
We cover all aspects of sale preparation and sales process
execution, as well as provide advice on opportunities to increase business value in advance of a sale. Our service is customised to our clients individual needs and delivered for an affordable price.
Our Values
-
We care greatly about providing our clients with a personalised service that helps alleviate the stress of what can otherwise be an unfamiliar and daunting process.
-
We strive hard to earn our client’s trust through our authenticity and integrity.
-
We are committed to selling our clients business with the same degree of passion and care as if it was our own.
Services
We have proven systems and processes to deliver the following services for our clients:
Sell-side advisory
Businesses typically take at least 8 months to sell and almost half of processes fail, mainly due to poor preparation. Total Advisory Partners has a proven approach for selling businesses that optimises the likelihood of a successful sale at the highest possible price in a minimum 4-month timeframe.
We will advise you through every aspect required to prepare your business for sale including:
-
using our comprehensive sale preparation checklists to identify every issue that might concern a buyer and remediating these in advance of launching a sale process.
-
compiling a comprehensive list of domestic and international prospective purchasers.
-
writing a compelling information memorandum to generate strong buyer interest.
-
being across every detail of how the business' historic and forecast financials are presented, which is critical to maximising value in a sale process.
When executing the sale, we will:
-
run a structured process.
-
conduct all negotiations.
-
manage all aspects of the buyer’s due diligence.
-
advise on the appropriate treatment of working capital.
-
ensure the sale agreement is drafted to provide an optimal commercial and legal outcome.
-
nurture competitive tension to secure the highest price.
Most importantly, we will take great care to protect your business, including preserving its confidentiality through the course of the process.
All business sales are unique, and therefore our objective will be to tailor an approach that works best for you and your business.
Buy-side advisory
Whilst we specialise in selling businesses, we also have significant experience on the buy-side. Consequently, many of our clients ask us to transact bolt-on acquisitions for them to grow their business in advance of a future sale. We assist them to:
-
assess the strategic rationale and financial impact of the acquisition.
-
conduct due diligence on the target.
-
conduct all negotiations with the seller through to the closing of the deal.
-
ensure the appropriate treatment of working capital in the purchase price.
-
ensure the sale agreement is drafted to give an optimal commercial and legal outcome.
We have strong relationships with banks to assist clients secure debt in the event this is required to help them fund an acquisition.
Valuation reports
We have significant experience preparing valuation reports for our clients which evaluate what their business is likely to sell for in a sales process.
Clients find the "valuation scorecard" included in our report extremely effective for identifying which aspects of their business require improvement to optimise both saleability and value in advance of launching a sales process.
Strategic planning
We have extensive experience assisting businesses prepare annual strategic plans. These are critical for providing a clear and realistic roadmap of future revenue and earnings growth, which can be essential for maximising value in a sales process, particularly for growth businesses.
Strategic plans are also important for bridging the gap between the value an owner would like to realise in a future sale and what their business is worth today.
Owners of small to medium size businesses typically don’t prepare annual strategic plans and therefore can benefit from our support developing one as part of preparing their business for sale.
Experience
Total Advisory Partners team members have broad and deep executive and deal-making experience.
We have:
-
served as senior executives for M&A firms that specialise in advising small to medium sized businesses, large ASX listed and medium sized private companies, and bulge bracket investment banks.
-
completed more than 30 transactions in diverse industries, including:
-
catering
-
cosmetics
-
engineering
-
family entertainment centres
-
food production
-
franchising
-
health clubs
-
leisure
-
manufacturing
-
marinas
-
martech
-
printing
-
software
-
tourism and hospitality
-
theme parks and attractions
-
-
conducted negotiations for M&A transactions from every side of the deal: as a seller, buyer and as an advisor.
Darren Shacknofsky
Managing Director
Darren is an Australian Chartered Accountant who combines more than 25 years experience in M&A, strategy, valuations, due diligence, capital management, investor relations and accounting to be able to advise on all aspects required to successfully prepare a business for sale and execute the sales process. He has led more than 30 M&A transactions on both the buy and sell-side.
Prior to starting Total Advisory Partners, Darren led transaction services for Morgan Shaw Advisory where he specialised in selling small to medium size businesses, including writing valuation reports as part of the sale preparation process.
Darren's previous roles include leading M&A, strategy, capital management and investor relations as Head of Corporate Development for ASX listed Ardent Leisure. He has also worked for investment banks Macquarie Group, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. Earlier in his career, Darren gained extensive accounting experience as Financial Controller for Mergermarket and as a Client Audit Manager for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
