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Sell Your Business to Private Equity
When you decide to sell a business in Australia, operator-led sale preparation is what separates businesses that close cleanly from those that get retraded or stall in diligence. Most businesses are sold below their potential value. Not because of the market — but because value isn't built properly before the sale.
Private equity interest in Australian mid-market businesses has never been higher. If you are considering a sale — or have already received an approach — this is the starting point.
Where this fits
Demand → Pricing → Cash → EBITDA → Network → Visibility → Value
What Private Equity Looks For
Private equity buyers are not generalists. By the time they approach a business, they have already built a model, formed a view on the sector, and identified the characteristics they want to acquire.
They are looking for recurring revenue, a defensible market position, an independent management team, and a clear path to growth. EBITDA margins that sit above the sector median command a premium. Owner-dependent businesses carry a discount — in multiple, in upfront cash, or in both.
The businesses that attract the strongest terms are not necessarily the largest. They are the ones where what the business does is visible, documented, and clearly connected to what drives performance.
What private equity looks for in detail →
How Your Business Is Valued
The offer price will be expressed as a multiple of your EBITDA — your operating earnings, adjusted for items that are not representative of ongoing performance. That adjusted number is the one that gets multiplied. Every dollar of genuine, recurring improvement flows directly into value.
The multiple varies. A stable, growing business with diversified customers and clean financials might achieve seven to nine times in the current market. A business with customer concentration, owner dependency, or inconsistent margin might achieve four to six times. The preparation window — twelve to twenty-four months before a sale — is where you move from one range to the other.
Working capital is assessed at settlement. If debtors are elevated or inventory is heavy, this reduces net proceeds. Understanding your working capital position before any process starts is not optional — it is preparation.
How to know if you are getting a fair price →
How to Increase Valuation Before You Sell
Valuation improvement happens in the twelve to twenty-four months before a sale — not during it. The changes that matter are operational, not cosmetic. They are the same things that make the business perform better every day, and they happen to also make it worth more.
Pricing and margin
Most businesses have pricing that has drifted. Rates set years ago, customers who have never been reviewed, margin that varies for reasons nobody has traced. A disciplined pricing review is one of the highest-return activities in sale preparation — and it does not require a price increase, only an understanding of where margin is and is not.
Working capital
Cash trapped in debtors, inventory, and weak supplier terms quietly funds your customers — not your growth. Releasing it before a sale improves both the settlement position and the narrative around earnings quality.
Team and independence
A business that can only perform with the founder present is a different risk profile — and different deal structure — to one with a functional leadership layer. Demonstrating independence is the highest-return preparation activity for most founder-led businesses.
How to maximise business value before selling →
When to Sell
The right time to sell is when the business is performing well, the team can run without you, and you have had time to close the gaps that would surface in due diligence. Selling from strength consistently produces better outcomes than selling under pressure or during a period of underperformance.
Timing matters in another sense too. An unsolicited approach that arrives before you are prepared puts the buyer in the stronger position. They have already formed a view on what your business is worth. You have not. That information asymmetry does not resolve itself — it has to be deliberately closed.
The businesses that achieve the strongest outcomes are the ones that engaged with a prepared plan — not the ones that reacted to an approach.
Why private equity is approaching your business →