MarketCurrents — Selling the Family Business: Letting Go While Preserving a Legacy

Selling the family business is likely to be an emotional journey for most families. How should families go about selling their business while maintaining its values?

Families that control an enterprise over multiple generations have a lot more to consider than the average business owner, according to Jennifer Pendergast, Ph.D., a senior consultant at Egon Zehnder’s Family Business Advisory division. “When families sell, they want to know that their employees and communities in which they operate will be well cared for,” she says. “They don’t want their legacy to be tarnished.” They want a buyer who is not just in it for the money, will maintain their values and not tarnish their name or reputation.

Preserving the family legacy is a critical element of a decision to sell. Over time the family’s identity gets interwoven with the company’s reputation. Families take pride in pointing out the family name on a product that now sits on the shelves of global supermarkets or taking friends to a resort they own. When selling, families tend to look beyond the financial aspects of the deal and focus on the long-term ethical and social implications of relinquishing control.
 

Full Story: Selling the Family Business: Letting Go While Preserving a Legacy, MarketCurrents. Nov 2018.