Wire

One of the first questions business owners ask when contemplating a sale is one of timing. In this latest Watermark Wire video, Hagen Rogers shares how the readiness question can be answered by considering a framework of 8 attributes no matter the industry and stage of your company. Whether it is the right time to…

Over the last 50 years, there have been two identifiable periods of stagflation: 1973-1975 and 1978-1982. We have entered another period of stagflation, which means the US economy is faced with the dual headwinds of high inflation and slow economic growth. On July 13th, the Consumer Price Index was reported to be 9.1%, which is…

In the dizzying world we work in currently, we often don’t stop and look back at history to learn lessons. The team at Watermark has been researching prior recessions and how they influence M&A transaction outcomes. This current economic downturn is driven by (1) a massive, unprecedented injection of M1 and M2 money supply after…

There are numerous economic indicators that are pointing towards recession or stagflation. As discussed in our previous Wire article titled M&A and the Economy Part 1: Americans are Getting Poorer, price increases driven by rampant inflation and the energy sector crisis (gas, natural gas, diesel fuel supply demand imbalances) are hurting the American public, and…

We want to turn our attention to recent economic developments as conditions in the US continue to worsen. The M&A market is not immune to these worsening conditions. There is a lot to cover on this issue, so this topic will span over several articles. Today, we’d like to focus on macroeconomic indicators that are…

Section 1202 was enacted in 1993 and was meant to help encourage investment in small businesses. Put simply, Section 1202 allows individuals to avoid 100% of the federal capital gains tax incurred upon the sale of qualified small business stock (also known as QSBS), given the shareholder and business have met the (many) requirements that…

M&A Had a Banner Year in 2021 There is no question that 2021 was a year for the record books in the M&A marketplace. In the US, over 18,500 M&A transactions closed vs. 14,800 in 2020. After a dramatic drop in M&A volume in 1H’20 due to COVID-19 rearing its’ ugly head, the M&A market…

Family offices continue to grow in prominence in the world of M&A and are increasingly competing against PE firms and strategics for acquisition opportunities. Single-Family Offices (SFOs) manage wealth of a single-family or individual. Multi-family offices (MFOs) are designed to provide similar services to their SFO counterparts but to a number of wealthy families. According…