The Private Broker Network™ (PBN) is a members-only walled garden marketplace for business brokering and succession transactions. It is intended to be used by large networks of member businesses such as financial planning dealer groups and franchises.
Its purpose is to enable the network to oversee and empower its members to buy and sell their businesses to other owners within the network, but with selective access to the wider public audience of buyers and vendors (via the Business Exchange Network.)
The PBN includes a secure and private web portal under the network’s branding. This portal is the place where network members come to register their needs and list their opportunities, and also acts as their control panel and marketplace for locating and pursuing transactions. Members can:
- List their businesses for sale
- Seek to purchase listed businesses as an entry point, or to grow through acquisition
- Look for and advertise equity partnerships
- Seek JV and merger opportunities within and outside the group
An extensive and powerful suite of back-office tools is included to empower the network’s M&A team, including:
- An email marketing system
- Data-mining engine
- Multiple audit logs
- Oversight and reporting mechanisms
- Specialised Business Development Manager (BDM) logins and tools, built to allow BDMs to recommend opportunities directly to their clients and oversee transactions in support of the M&A team
The PBN runs on the same Gateway Engine that underpins the Business Exchange Network, and it integrates directly with the services and professionals that make up the Business Exchange Network. This means that your PBN members and your M&A team can benefit from connecting with the Business Exchange Network in several ways:
- Vendor listings on the Business Exchange Network’s web portals can be pursued by your PBN members, allowing you to use your PBN as a vector for growing your member businesses;
- When you list a business within your PBN (and if you have difficulty finding a buyer within the network) you can reach out into the wider Business Exchange Network to source more buyers – this gives you the opportunity to turn a succession problem into a recruitment opportunity by bringing the new buyer into your group;
- You can tap the professional expertise of the members of the Business Exchange Network including specialist lawyers and consultants
Business Exchange also offers ancillary services to PBN clients, including:
- Survey generation, distribution and analysis
- Professional business brokering services – particularly useful if your group does not currently include a dedicated M&A team
- Our Smart IM service, which can produce high-quality and consistent IM documents to assist in promotion of listings
The PBN concept is already in use at two top-20 ASX-listed companies for the purpose of managing their group’s internal succession requirements.
A variety of pricing options are available, depending on how or whether you wish to spread the cost among your members.
If you’re interested in knowing more please get in touch with Mark Witt via our Contact Us page
