Frequently Asked Questions

This depends on the business's sale readiness at the outset. The formal process itself usually takes four to six months. Businesses that prepare properly before launching tend to move faster and achieve stronger outcomes, engaging early, well before the business is ready to transact, is an advantage rather than a cost. Preparing a business for sale can often take six to eighteen months.

Conquest Capital manages the transaction on the client's behalf, defining the key selling points, preparing the information memorandum, running the competitive process, managing due diligence, negotiating terms, and coordinating completion. Management remains focused on running the business while Conquest Capital runs the deal.

Yes. Conquest Capital has established networks across ASEAN and South Korea, built through prior advisory work and relationships in those markets, and is a member of the Cross-Border Associates network, which, combined with VR M&A, forms the largest alliance of independent M&A advisers globally, more than 350 advisers, with strong coverage across Europe, the USA and Canada. For Australian businesses attracting interest from international acquirers, or seeking offshore buyers, Conquest Capital is positioned to manage that complexity.

For a profitable business, we will assess your maintainable earnings, historical and future growth rates, earnings margins and relevant comparable earnings multiples (both listed trading comparables and transaction multiples). For a tech business, which is often loss-making, the comparable multiples will usually be based on Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”).

In selling to a strategic acquirer, we will also assess potential cost savings, which will make the business more valuable to that acquirer, although an acquirer will not want to pay its unique synergies to the seller. That is the art of extracting value from an acquirer and why a seller should employ an experienced financial adviser who can best position the business strategic narrative and extract the highest value and most favourable terms.

The most important step is engaging an experienced adviser early, well before the intended transaction date, to allow time to address value gaps, strengthen financial reporting, and build the narrative around the business. Conquest Capital guides clients through exactly what needs to be prepared; its Expert Guides on Preparing a Business for Sale and Selling a Business are a useful starting point.

Confidentiality is managed carefully at every stage. We use tight non-disclosure agreements, controlled buyer outreach and disciplined process management, so your team stays focused on customers and your market remains unaware you are looking to sell until you choose to communicate.

That said, we can not guarantee that your sale process won’t leak and no adviser can guarantee this. A party not ultimately interested in acquiring you may leak the sale process. However, we can say that we will never communicate the process to the media without your permission, which is different to a number of other advisers.

To manage the risk of a leak, it is best to have a contingency plan worked out in advance that you can fall back on.

Yes. Whether you're pursuing a single target or building a roll-up, we can handle origination, valuation, negotiation, and acquisition finance as one integrated process. That's where an experienced adviser adds significant value.

We raise both equity and debt capital for growth-stage and mature Australian businesses. Equity includes minority growth equity, buyout capital, and preferred equity, from private equity firms, family offices, and high-net-worth investors. Regarding Debt, we raise and advise on term loans, working capital facilities, bridging finance, and convertible notes. We focus on later-stage businesses and do not typically advise on seed or early-stage venture capital.

What will happen to your business is entirely your decision.

We will approach investors who will best meet your objectives. If you wish to sell more than 50% we will approach strategic acquirers and control / buyout Private Equity investors. If you wish to retain more than 50%, we would approach Growth Private Equity investors who typically acquire 25 - 50% of businesses.

Ultimately though, we only approach investors who suit your objectives and after you have approved us approaching them.

The key to targeting investors is understanding your objectives regarding the equity raise. This includes quantitative factors including raise size (both funds into the business to support growth and potential sell-down by existing shareholders), valuation, implied investor % post raise as well as identifying what qualitative factors you are seeking, such as industry expertise, international networks, M & A or integration expertise, ability to build C-suite management teams, culture etc.

The objectives will then determine which potential investors we approach. We spend a lot of time on this analysis as we would prefer to approach the most suitable 8 - 15 potential investors rather “blast” to 30 - 50 names, who might not be suitable.

This targeted approach is often quite different to other advisers. In a recent raise, a previous adviser had approached 30 potential investors, but attracted zero interest. When we reviewed this list 27 of the 30 potential investors were “out of mandate”, meaning that they could not invest. In contrast, we approached 6 potential investors, 4 were interested and we received 2 funding offers.

Our wide networks have been built over many years in investment banking and include Private Equity, Family Offices and High-Net-worth investors in Australia and internationally. This allows us to select the investors who best meet your objectives and which provide the most likely chance of a successful raise.

Most private capital raises take between three and six months from mandate to close. This length of time, which is significantly longer than a listed equity raising, but comparable to an M & A sale process is because (i) the investor is buying or investing in a private business where there is no prior information disclosure; (ii) they are typically backing management and so have to build a relationship with them and see how they operate; and (iii) illiquidity - in a listed environment, an investor can buy and sell shares relatively freely. An an unlisted investment, an investor may need to hold for 3 - 7 years and so the risks are a lot higher.

That said, businesses which begin investor-readiness work early move faster and achieve better terms. If your systems, financials, and growth story are not yet investor-grade, we will tell you and help you get there before any formal process begins.