Solutions for Closely-Held and Family Businesses

Brazos has a long history of successfully working with and investing in closely-held and family owned and operated businesses. This experience and perspective have proven very helpful in allowing the firm to understand and navigate the specific needs of families when considering a transaction with a private equity investment group. As a testament to this specialty, several articles and Harvard Business School case studies have been written on the firm’s expertise in this area.

 

Families and business owners of closely-held companies often have a range of concerns when contemplating a transaction, including control going forward, whether the transaction will generate a sufficient amount of value and liquidity for family members and owners, and whether the company will have access to capital for growth.

Brazos has developed flexible transaction structures including the Generation Transfer Transaction® (GTT®) to address a range of these needs. The GTT® is a non-control equity recapitalization transaction that seeks to resolve the closely held or family business owner’s competing financial and personal demands by providing what are often the three most important considerations:

- Continued operating control
- Liquidity to all shareholders
- Capital for growth

Traditional alternatives, such as an outright sale, public offering, establishing an ESOP, or a straight leveraged recapitalization, individually satisfy some combination of these three goals, but not all of them, as compared to the GTT®.

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