At the Acquire or Be Acquired Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona on Jan. 27, partners Neil Grayson, Ben Barnhill, and Jon Talcott discussed factors to consider when going through the acquisition process in “Evaluating Acquisition Opportunities.”  The speakers provided insights and tips, including:

• having a unified board of directors
• getting the “house” in order
• establishing a good compliance history and relationships with regulators
• assembling the deal team
• developing a game plan
• and conducting thorough due diligence when considering acquiring another company.

The speakers also break-down the steps of the process for selling a company, ranging from analyzing the company’s standing in the marketplace to engaging an investment banking firm to provide financial advisory and investment banking services to the company.

Grayson is a partner in the Firm’s Greenville and New York offices and chairs the Firm’s Financial Services Corporate and Regulatory Practice group. His corporate practice is primarily focused on the financial institution and FinTech industries.

Barnhill is a partner in the Greenville office and focuses his practice on bank regulatory, corporate securities, mergers and acquisitions, and executive compensation matters, with an emphasis on community banks.

Talcott is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office and is co-chair of the firm’s securities practice group. He offers counsel to financial services companies, including banks, thrifts, mortgage companies, mortgage REITs, business development companies, investment banks and financial technology companies.