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Cultivating the Family Tree; Acquiring family-owned businesses requires a lot of legwork on the part of deal pros, though the opportunity is compelling enough to draw investors into the fray.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Avram Davis

As the capital gains tax hike approaches, mid-market deal pros are anticipating that a corollary of that will be increased deal flow originating from family owned businesses. It's a theme many in the deal market are well versed on these days. But while many pros are likely eager to get back to doing deals, there is a caveat: working with family-run corporations can be as frustrating as a New Years at the in laws.

The primary challenge, deal pros say, is getting the business owners to adopt a for-profit mindset. It's not that family executives are making decisions that are intentionally destructive to value, but it's hard to get owners to put their short-term self interests aside.

As self-evident as this sounds, the modern reality of dual allegiances and the torn loyalties that family business owners face makes this fundamental component...

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