Our videos dive into business growth, operational excellence, and concrete strategies to scale your company. Real-world case studies, expert interviews, and actionable advice: follow us to accelerate your growth journey.
Our videos dive into business growth, operational excellence, and concrete strategies to scale your company. Real-world case studies, expert interviews, and actionable advice: follow us to accelerate your growth journey.
In this third episode, Thomas Colin (Alvo.Market) and Maxime Nicolas (Outmatch) welcome Tanguy Tauzinat (Trajan Capital) to discuss a decisive topic: understanding a seller and convincing them with the right offer. A specialist in management buy-ins (MBI), Trajan starts from the human side — finding the future leader — then structures the transaction around them, with one goal: building a long-term story, not just a deal.
Price is not negotiated “through sympathy.” The connection helps to understand the company’s DNA, create a trust capital to overcome obstacles in the process, and start co-constructing the post-deal project. Nothing replaces an on-site, in-person meeting; video calls serve only as pre-qualification at best.
An intermediated process streamlines, secures, and accelerates. The seller’s advisor is not a wall — they are a pedagogical relay and a facilitator when discussions get tense. On the numbers side, preparing the data (Vendor Due Diligence / TS) saves time… and often creates value.
The compass: a “reference EBITDA” (or EBITDA-Capex depending on the sector), cleaned of non-recurring items, applied to a multiple aligned with the sector and its specificities (size, recurrence, growth, risks). Enterprise value is discussed first, then adjusted (debt/cash, unavoidable capex) to obtain the equity value. It is better to state one’s true conviction early and let the audit confirm, rather than promise high and then renegotiate.
The written offer (not just an oral figure) must: restate the industrial and human project, specify the requirements understood, detail the construction of the reference EBITDA, financing/uses structure, seller’s involvement, and the place of the teams (often included in the capital). And announce a realistic timeline.
Winning over a seller means creating the desire to build together: continuity of strengths, respect for teams, clear direction, and resources.