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Considering a Plan B; As deal fatigue sets in, sellers are realizing that the best answer to uncommitted bidders is flexibility.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Ken MacFadyen

Eighteen months ago, few sellers in the midst of a sales process would put much thought into a possible "Plan B." If a deal fell through, advisers could merely go to the next bidder in line and forfeit little in the way of a premium. However, these days, if one buyer bails it's possible, or even likely, that no one else is waiting in line to pick up the pieces.

"Seller fatigue is a real issue in this market," Robert Brown, a managing director at Lincoln International, says. He cites that in the fourth quarter, after Lehman Brothers and AIG collapsed, a good portion of the deals that were in the works had to be scrapped. For those that forged ahead, many are dealing with buyers that just can't commit, leaving sellers in a state of suspended animation - frozen by the recognition of what could've been and a realization that they don't have any other alternatives in the form of a new buyer.

Because of this, advisers are usually thinking about options to a sale even...

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