Western Precision Manufacturer Sold for $3.5M, 9 Buyers Met
Rachel Horner
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2 min read
About the Business
Industry: Manufacturing – Precision Machining
Location: West
Size: $5M–$6M in annual revenue, with a long-tenured team and general manager
Sale price: $3,500,000
Listing to signed LOI: 141 days
Signed LOI to close: 221 days
The Challenge: Retiring Without Losing the Team
The owners had run the shop for decades and were ready for retirement. They wanted a buyer who would preserve the business and its loyal team.
141 Days to a Signed LOI: Sorting Through Complex Offers
What happened at every stage
Valuation: Baton built the valuation from the shop's latest annual financials, with $5M–$6M in revenue, and listed it about two months after the owners signed on.
Buyer Outreach: More than 200 buyers viewed the listing and 85+ opened the data room. The owners met 9 buyer groups in 14 meetings, including a family office, a private-equity-backed strategic, a searcher and individual buyers.
Offer Selection and Negotiation Support: The first offers leaned heavily on seller financing and earnouts, so the Baton advisor walked the owners through each one, sent counters and kept institutional buyers in play. Three buyers made written offers, and the owners signed an LOI at $3,500,000.
Diligence and Closing Support: The Baton advisor ran weekly diligence check-ins for more than six months. The deal closed as a stock purchase alongside a separate sale of the real estate.
The Results
The buyer is a precision-manufacturing entrepreneur whose company had outsourced all of its production, and he bought the shop to bring that work in-house and scale it. Through Baton's process, the business:
Sold for $3,500,000 in a stock purchase
Drew 3 written offers after 9 buyer groups met the owners
Closed with a conventional bank loan and a seller note, with the real estate sold in a concurrent transaction
What's next for the owners?
The owners sold to retire, leaving the business in the hands of a buyer who wanted to grow it.
Advice and Lessons for Future Sellers
Look past the headline number. Early offers with large seller notes and earnouts were worth less than they looked.
Keep more than one buyer in play. Institutional interest gave the owners leverage while they negotiated with the eventual buyer.
Expect a longer close for a larger deal. Weekly check-ins kept a stock purchase and a real estate sale moving together.