Your business stays what it is
A sale decides who will hold say over your people, your customers and your site. At AABTS your business remains a standalone company, under its own name and at its own location. It is not merged into other holdings and not positioned for resale.
What comes with it are group functions: financing, reporting, purchasing terms and parts of back-office administration. Your business no longer has to carry these itself. The changeover happens in the first months after closing and is limited in time.
Your role is your decision
Whether you stay, and in what form, is up to you. Three routes are open.
- You exit fully at closing. This assumes a second tier of management is in place, or that AABTS provides the managing director.
- You see the handover through for a fixed period, typically twelve to twenty-four months.
- You stay long term, including beyond ten years. This is expressly provided for.
If you want to diversify or release capital from your business without ending your working life, AABTS does not require you to leave. The role is agreed together: a specialist or strategic function, a seat on the advisory board, or a fixed-term handover. Day-to-day management generally passes to our team, because the restructuring phase after closing calls for clear lines.
From closing, leadership is settled
AABTS acquires a majority, preferably in full. Minority stakes are not acquired.
Management is settled from closing. Either the existing managing director is confirmed, or AABTS appoints from its own circle of experienced executives from industry, aviation and logistics. The reason is the limited restructuring phase after closing, where decisions have to be made quickly.
Which businesses qualify
The search profile is narrow. The criteria below set out what matters.
Earnings. EBITDA above one million euros. Between 500,000 euros and one million an acquisition is possible where you stay on as a minority shareholder and support the organisational changes needed to grow past that threshold.
Business model. B2B, with a structure whose growth does not require headcount or assets to rise in step. What matters is not that the structure is already in place, but that the model allows for it.
Region. Europe and the United Kingdom. The radius is wide because management is drawn from a circle of experienced executives and is not tied to one location.
Sectors. The focus is aviation, logistics and transport, where AABTS has its own operational experience. Businesses in other sectors are considered where the remaining criteria are met.
Stake. A majority, preferably in full. Minority stakes are not acquired by AABTS.
What does not qualify
Early-stage businesses, turnaround cases and pure asset or investment vehicles are not acquired. Minority stakes are not acquired by AABTS.
Nor do businesses qualify whose ability to operate ends at closing and which require management to be permanently tied to a single site.
Four situations that make a sale harder
You want to diversify, not stop
You still have a long working horizon ahead and are not looking to retire. A conventional sale process leaves little room for that; at AABTS it is the norm.
One shareholder wants out, the others do not
Buying out the departing partner cannot be funded internally, and a full sale is not on the table.
A group unit is being divested
It is profitable but no longer core, and its local management team transfers with it.
Investment has been deferred
The business is sustainably profitable, but little was invested over several years ahead of a handover.
How an acquisition runs
- 1
First contact
An initial conversation, confidential and without obligation. We cover your objectives, your timing and whether an acquisition by AABTS is of interest to you at all. A non-disclosure agreement is signed beforehand on request.
- 2
Expression of interest
If your business fits the search profile, AABTS comes back with its interest, usually informally by email or in conversation. On request, for instance to put before fellow shareholders or an advisory board, the intention to acquire is also set out in writing.
- 3
Conversation with you
Before any indicative offer, AABTS speaks with you, normally online. Earnings normalisations, your own view of your future role and the shape of the transaction cannot be derived from documents.
- 4
Indicative offer
Drawing on the annual accounts of the past three years, a current interim statement and the conversation, AABTS names a value range and the assumptions behind it.
- 5
Due diligence and closing
Due diligence runs to a timetable agreed in advance and, depending on the business, is carried out with external advisors so that analysis and valuation stay independent. The purchase agreement is drawn up on those findings and closing follows.
The process involves no market approach and no competitive bidding. AABTS buys on its own account and does not act as an intermediary. Documents and information are not passed to third parties.
Common questions
Will my business continue to exist?
Yes. It continues as a standalone company, under its own name and at its own location, and is not merged into other holdings.
Will the business be sold on later?
Not by design. AABTS acquires without a fund term and without an exit date. The acquisition is built around holding and developing the business.
Do I have to stay after closing?
No, but you may. A full exit, a fixed handover period and a long-term role in changed form are all workable. A full exit assumes that leadership of the business is secured.
Who runs the business after closing?
Either the existing managing director or an executive from the circle AABTS draws on. That is decided before signing and is not left open.
Why a conversation before the indicative offer?
Because a valuation without one only reflects the documents. Normalisations, your future role and the shape of the transaction largely determine the range. After the conversation the range is narrower and carries fewer conditions.
Will the market hear about the conversation?
No. There is no market approach, no long list and no competitive process. Documents are not passed to third parties.
For M&A advisors and brokers
AABTS buys on its own account and does not act as an intermediary. An existing mandate is respected; we do not approach your client behind your back. You will normally receive a first response within five working days, including where a business does not qualify. Non-disclosure agreements are signed before documents are sent.
AABTS puts forward an indicative offer only after a conversation with the owner. Beforehand, a written expression of interest without a price is available on request for you to put to your client. It records the intention to acquire, the fit with the search profile and the next steps.
The search profile is set out above. Enquiries outside it are considered where there is a sound reason for putting them forward.