SELLING TO A FAMILY OFFICE: WHAT OWNERS AND ADVISORS NEED TO KNOW
Family offices are increasingly active acquirers of middle-market operating companies, often bringing a different mindset than private equity sponsors or strategic buyers. This panel brings together family offices that directly buy and operate businesses to discuss how they evaluate opportunities, structure transactions, and partner with management teams for long-term value creation. Designed for business owners and professional advisors alike, the discussion will compare and contrast family office transactions with private equity and strategic M&A—covering decision-making speed, diligence priorities, governance expectations, rollover equity, leverage preferences, and post-close operating involvement. Attendees will leave with a clearer framework for determining when a family office buyer may be the best fit and how to position a company for that outcome.
Learning Objectives:
1) Differentiate buyer types: Identify the key economic and cultural differences between selling to a family office, private equity sponsor, or strategic acquirer (time horizon, return targets, leverage, and integration intent).
2) Understand how family offices underwrite deals: Learn what family offices prioritize in diligence (management depth, cash-flow durability, customer concentration, capex needs, and downside protection).
3) Decode common deal structures: Compare typical terms, valuation approach, earnouts, seller notes, rollover equity, governance rights, and management incentives, across family office vs. PE vs. strategic outcomes.
4) Prepare for post-close realities: Understand what “permanent capital” can mean in practice (operating involvement, reporting cadence, board composition, and how decision-making works after closing).
5) Position the business and advisory team for success: Gain practical guidance on how owners and advisors can run a process that attracts family office buyers, manages confidentiality, and increases certainty of close.
About the Presenter:
Hear from industry expert, Whit Webster and panelists Fritz von Guionneau, Ian Ross, and Andrew Donald.
Event Location
Event Details
Who Should Attend?
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Attorneys
You have close relationships with clients, and can benefit from being the first advisor to introduce the idea of exit planning.
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CPAs/Accountants
Owners participating in the State of Owner Readiness research continue to indicate that you are the No. 1 "Most Trusted Advisor." You are a natural fit to lead the exit planning team and deepen your relationship (and retention) of next generation owners.
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Wealth Managers
You’re a skilled relationship person. Being entangled into your clients’ professional lives matters as you build a strategy to manage their wealth upon them harvesting it from their business. Exit planning allows you to build a deeper relationship with your client, expands your COI network, while giving you an early seat at table well before the liquidity event.
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Financial Advisors
One of the critical ‘legs of the stool’ is personal financing planning. An owner must have a strong financial plan & contingency plan post-transition to enable them to thrive in the next act of the lives personally and financially. Exit planning brings this future mindset into the present. Exit is now.
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Valuation Analysts
Valuation is both a billable engagement AND an opportunity to provide owners some perspective on how to accelerate value drivers (and deal with value killers). Use exit planning to make that valuation into a longer term value acceleration engagement.
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Investment Bankers
Only 2 of every 10 businesses that come to market actually sell. Learn how exit planning can bring attractive AND ready business to your purview.
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Estate Planners
Exit planning is a natural fit for estate planners who want to operate more holistically with their owner clients.
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Strategic Consultants
One of the most critical roles in exit planning is building transferable value. Strategic consultants have the ability to expand options and drive rapid business value that affect performance today.
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Insurance Professionals
Exit planning addresses the 5 D's. So do you. Approach the risk conversation differently with exit planning.
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Mergers & Acquisition Advisors
Proper exit planning causes less deals to fall through at the last minute. Connect with CEPAs to build your healthy deal flow network.
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Commercial Lenders
One of the best relationships a business owner makes is with their banker. How can you help your corporate clients think about the future and ensure financial continuity? Answer: exit planning.
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Family Business Advisors
More than 50% of lower middle market business owners would prefer to transition to the next generation. Help them succeed with exit planning strategies.
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Other Professional Advisors
Regardless of your unique specialty, there is seat at the exit planning table for you. Learn more at www.EarnCEPA.com.
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Private Business Owners
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Members of Family Business Boards
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Professional Advisors
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Business Consultants
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Other Business Professionals
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Business Owners
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Business Owners & Their Trusted Advisors
EXIT PLANNING IS GOOD BUSINESS STRATEGY
The Exit Planning Institute, provides Financial Advisors, Accountants, Consultants, and other advisors of business owners with the critical education to differentiate themselves and add value to their existing client relationships through a credential, conference, courses, and content. Download the CEPA brochure for more information.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Panelist:
Andrew Donald is Director of Business Development at RAF Equity. He is responsible for sourcing new acquisition opportunities and assisting with select operational initiatives across the RAF portfolio. He advises our portfolio companies on add-on acquisition opportunities and organic growth initiatives. Previously, Andrew was a senior manager in mergers and acquisitions at McKinsey & Company and an associate in the technology investment banking group at Jefferies. Andrew holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. in Finance, with honors, from Vanderbilt University. RAF team member since 2023.
Panelist:
Ian Ross is the CEO of Financial Investments Corporation, a private investment management firm and family office. He oversees investments in the U.S. and Asia in both public and private markets. His 30-year career in the financial services industry includes roles in private equity, investment banking and commercial lending.
He received his B.A. in finance, with honors, from Michigan State University and his M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Ian the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of National Louis University and resides in Chicago, IL.
Panelist:
Fritz von Guionneau founded Highwald, a family investment firm in the Philadelphia area focused on services and industrial businesses. Highwald offers business owners an alternative to private equity with an approach built on long-term, active ownership focused on enduring growth and legacy preservation. Fritz was previously Co-Head of Direct Investments at Continental Grain Company, a 7th generation, 200+ year-old family-owned investor and operator of industrial and services businesses. He has also worked at Berkshire Partners and Bain & Company. He holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Oxford.