This was a transaction that was almost written off from the very beginning.
When the seller approached us, they were already preparing to shut the business down. Changes to the factory lease had made continued operations too risky and uncertain to sustain. A manufacturing business that had been running for nearly fifty years had reached a very real crossroads. The seller had little expectation of a sale—it was more a last attempt, a “nothing to lose” effort.
From our perspective, this wasn’t an ideal engagement either. Manufacturing was not a sector we typically focused on, the owner was a local Western entrepreneur, and most critically, the time window was extremely tight. If the business couldn’t be sold within two months, it would close.
At the start, the problem wasn’t the market
On the surface, this business looked hard to sell: a traditional, niche industry, difficult to present, modest margins, and limited engagement from the seller. But after breaking it down, our conclusion was clear—it wasn’t unsellable. Its value simply hadn’t been clearly articulated.
Manufacturing businesses are very different from hospitality or retail. The value doesn’t lie in location or foot traffic, but in order structure, scalability of production, and whether the business can continue to operate smoothly without the original owner. What manufacturing buyers really want to know is whether customers are repeatable, which processes rely on personal experience, which are already standardised, and whether capacity can be released steadily after handover.
If these questions aren’t clearly answered, keeping the business listed longer won’t fundamentally change the outcome.
Before pushing the deal forward, we chose to slow down
Instead of rushing to market, we did something deliberately “slow.” We approached the business almost like a due diligence exercise: studying the niche market, spending time on the factory floor, walking through the full production and operating process with the seller, and reframing the business profile from past performance to handover feasibility.
When the final business overview was completed and sent to the seller for confirmation, their attitude shifted. For the first time, they realised this wasn’t just a choice between “closing or not closing.” The business genuinely had the potential to be sold properly—and taken over seriously.
The real challenge wasn’t finding buyers, but filtering them
Once the business was clearly positioned, the most critical part of the process became buyer selection.
Manufacturing is not suitable for everyone. Buyers who focus only on short-term returns, treat the business as a passive investment, underestimate on-site management and delivery complexity, or lack basic understanding of handover and equipment maintenance pose significant risks in manufacturing deals. In many cases, these mismatches don’t surface at contract stage—but quickly turn into operational problems after settlement.
More realistically, when a seller is already close to giving up, an “unsuitable but willing” buyer can actually drag the transaction into a deadlock. And under our time constraints, there was almost no room for error.
That’s why we held firmly to one principle throughout the process: price was not the top priority. Executability and deal certainty were.
Cross-cultural communication mattered more than it appeared
Another layer of complexity came from cross-cultural communication. Both buyer and seller were from Western backgrounds, and the intermediary’s role was to constantly align understanding—clarifying assumptions, resetting expectations, and steering discussions back to what was practically achievable.
This kind of work is largely invisible, but it often determines whether a deal can make it to the finish line.
Outcome and key takeaways
In the end, the transaction was completed successfully. Yet it was a deal that could very easily have ended the moment the seller closed the doors.
For us, this case reinforced two clear lessons:
First, we are not limited by industry or client background. As long as the transaction logic is sound and judgement is applied correctly, deals can be completed across unfamiliar sectors and different cultural contexts.
Second, in complex transactions, the true value of a broker is not simply arranging meetings or passing on offers. It lies in making continuous judgement calls at critical moments—deciding which buyers are unsuitable, which risks cannot be compromised, and which terms must be held firm.
