Business brokers
VR Business Brokers
VR Business Sales / Mergers & Acquisitions is a franchised network of business intermediaries that represents owners of privately held, family-operated, and founder-owned companies in a sale, and represents buyers looking to acquire one. The network has been transferring businesses since 1979 and runs both a main street brokerage practice and a lower middle market M&A practice.
Sell-side engagements follow a defined process: understanding the owner's motivation and objectives, establishing value with timing and market factors in mind, preparing an interest teaser, offering memorandum, and management presentations, identifying strategic or financial acquirers, negotiating price and structure, managing due diligence through a confidential data room, and coordinating with the client's legal, accounting, and tax advisers. Most businesses are marketed confidentially so customers, employees, suppliers, and competitors do not learn the company is for sale.
Buy-side work runs the other direction, from setting acquisition objectives and screening targets through valuation, negotiation, deal structure, financing sources, and post-closing tasks. Valuations use a multi-method approach that weighs company history, economic outlook, tangible asset value, industry ratios, cash flows, profitability, risk, competition, ownership transition, non-compete and consulting agreements, and working capital needs.
VR also sells franchises to people who want to open their own brokerage office, so the site mixes client-facing material with franchise recruiting. Fees for a sale engagement are not published.
Best for
Owners of privately held main street or lower middle market businesses who want a confidential, intermediary-run sale, and buyers who want representation on an acquisition. Not a commercial real estate brokerage.
What they do
- Sell-side business brokerage
- Lower middle market M&A advisory
- Buy-side acquisition advisory
- Business valuations
- Exit and strategic option planning
- Confidential information memorandum preparation
- Buyer identification and screening
- Due diligence management through a confidential data room
- Business brokerage franchise opportunities
Details
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| Ownership | Franchise |
What stands out
- Has represented privately held, family-operated, and founder-owned businesses in sales since 1979.
- Operates as a franchise network of full-time business intermediaries rather than a single office.
- Sell-side process covers teaser and offering memorandum preparation, acquirer identification, negotiation, and a proprietary confidential data room.
- Valuations use a multi-method approach weighing company history, economic outlook, asset value, industry ratios, cash flow, risk, and transition terms.
Common questions
- How does VR determine what a business is worth?
- VR uses a comprehensive multi-method approach rather than a single formula, because no two companies are alike even within the same industry. It weighs company history and longevity, economic outlook, tangible asset value, industry ratios, historical net cash flows, profitability, risk, competition, technological change, ownership transition, non-compete and consulting agreements, and working capital requirements.
- What is the difference between book value and fair market value?
- Book value is an accounting term rather than a standard of value: total net assets minus total liabilities on the balance sheet, usually excluding intangible assets. Fair market value is the price at which a business would change hands between a willing buyer and seller, neither under compulsion and both with reasonable knowledge of the facts, and is the standard used for federal and state tax matters.
- Is a business sale marketed publicly?
- In most cases no. VR states that most sellers do not want customers, employees, suppliers, or competitors to learn the business is for sale, so businesses are marketed confidentially, and buyers are shown qualifying businesses matched to their criteria from local, regional, national, and international databases.