You Received an Unsolicited Offer to Buy Your Business. Now What?
An offer for your business can feel both flattering and unsettling. You weren’t planning to sell, and suddenly you’re facing a decision that could change everything. Here’s how to respond from a position of strength.
Transaction volumes have increased since the middle of 2025 as strategic buyers lean into lower interest rates, and private-equity firms are sitting on roughly $2 trillion in committed capital (i.e. “dry powder”) they need to deploy. The result: buyers are hunting.
Many would rather land a deal quietly through a single private approach than compete for it in a more competitive process. An unsolicited offer is rarely coincidental. It’s a considered, strategic approach by the buyer, and it’s designed to work in their favour unless you take control of it.
1. Pause, take a breath, and understand what’s really happening
A buyer reaches out privately because they want speed, control, and less competition. Before you react to the number on the page, step back and read the situation for what it is: not a deadline, but an alternative you get to evaluate on your own terms.
2. Ask smart questions and protect your interests
If you engage, do so carefully and deliberately. Don’t rush to share detailed financials or sensitive information, and before information changes hands, have the buyer sign a confidentiality agreement. Then work through the questions that reveal whether this offer is worth pursuing.
- Is the buyer credible? Have they closed deals like this before and can they actually finance and close this one?
- Is the offer truly compelling? Is it a premium value or merely “fair”? Could other, more synergistic buyers pay more?
- How is this structured? All cash, or a mix that includes an earn-out or rollover equity that adds uncertainty to your final payout?
- Is now the right time? Would waiting 12-24 months result in significantly higher deal price?
- Are you ready? A sale process is invasive, distracting, and time-consuming for you and your team.
These questions distill into three things every owner should weigh:
3. Don’t Go It Alone
This is where owners see the biggest difference in outcomes. Buyers arrive with seasoned deal teams, negotiating solo means the playing field isn’t level. A strong M&A advisor helps you benchmark value, create competitive tension even without a full sale process, protect confidentiality, and control timing so you’re not pushed into exclusivity too early.
The Capital West Perspective
Selling a business is complex, with enormous financial consequences for the owner. Over our 30+ year history, we’ve advised countless owners through transactions that began with an unsolicited offer, and in a high proportion of those cases, the deal ultimately closed at a meaningful premium to the initial offer.
The Bottom Line
An unsolicited offer isn’t a deadline – it’s an alternative.
Slow things down, ask smart questions, bring in experienced advisors, and respond from a position of strength.
If you’ve been approached with an unsolicited offer, reach out to us to talk through your options.
About Capital West Partners
Capital West Partners is a leading independent transaction advisory firm based in Vancouver, BC. As mid-market M&A specialists, we deliver focused financial advice and transaction expertise to Western Canadian companies across a range of transaction situations, including:
- Divestitures
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Strategic Financings
- Valuations & Fairness Opinions
- Financial Advisory Assignments
Capital West has a proven track record of 30+ years of completing transactions that maximize value for our clients. Since inception, we have completed deals worth over $11 billion in total value.
Capital West is also a proud partner in IMAP (International Mergers and Acquisitions Partnership), a global organization of highly experienced mid-market advisory firms in over 40 countries with a track record of 50 years. Through IMAP, we maximize our global reach to bring industry and country expertise to every one of our assignments, and to find our clients the best buyers and investors in North America and beyond. www.imap.com