We have traditionally advised you about what not to talk about at the Thanksgiving dinner table, but this year, we thought we would highlight a more positive family business conversation that you might want to have with your family shareholders.
We have traditionally advised you about what not to talk about at the Thanksgiving dinner table, but this year, we thought we would highlight a more positive family business conversation that you might want to have with your family shareholders.
For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time to disregard normal dietary restraint in the company of extended family members that one rarely sees. For some enterprising families, however, Thanksgiving quickly devolves from a Rockwellian family gathering to a Costanza-style airing of grievances. So, in the holiday spirit, we offer this list of the top ten questions not to ask at Thanksgiving dinner. If you have trouble distinguishing between the board room and the dining room, this list is for you.
For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time to disregard normal dietary restraint in the company of extended family members that one rarely sees. For some enterprising families, however, Thanksgiving quickly devolves from a Rockwellian family gathering to a Costanza-style airing of grievances. So, in the holiday spirit, we offer this list of the top ten questions not to ask at Thanksgiving dinner. If you have trouble distinguishing between the board room and the dining room, this list is for you.
For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time to disregard normal dietary restraint in the company of extended family members that one rarely sees. For some enterprising families, however, Thanksgiving quickly devolves from a Rockwellian family gathering to a Costanza-style airing of grievances. So, in the holiday spirit, we offer this list of the top ten questions not to ask at Thanksgiving dinner. If you have trouble distinguishing between the board room and the dining room, this list is for you.
As the holiday season is upon us, and with Thanksgiving around the corner, I would be remiss not to reflect and share highlights from a bustling fall season at Mercer Capital. We are very grateful and thankful for the experiences, opportunities, and interactions with many of you!
The NFL has functioned as a family business incubator of sorts throughout its decades of existence. While other major U.S. professional sports leagues have embraced private equity ownership in recent years, the NFL has held out in favor of the family-owned model. The introduction of private equity into the league (expected at next month’s league meetings) will have far-reaching effects, both positive and negative. In this week’s post, we look at the pros and cons of private equity ownership in NFL franchises and how, like the NFL, family business owners considering private equity investment should weigh the pros and the cons before bringing PE firms into ownership groups.
This week’s blog centers around the challenges of asset allocation and investment decisions for family businesses, touching upon the importance of understanding a family’s appetite for risk and growth. We explore how the meaning assigned to the family business influences investment choices options and the necessity of balancing risk and expected returns. While there may not be a perfect answer for deciding how to invest, reevaluating what your family business needs and what it means to you will help you decide more wisely.
As Thanksgiving approaches, it reminds us of the unique challenges family business directors face in balancing what the family needs with the needs of the family business. A clear understanding of what the business means to the family is essential if decisions about dividend policy and capital allocation are to be made in a coordinated manner. This week’s post emphasizes how the meaning of your family business can help your family business directors decide who eats first — the family or the family business — this Thanksgiving.
2021 may be remembered as both the busiest M&A year in history for the investment management industry, as well as the year in which valuation multiples in the space peaked. Transaction volume surged last year and carried into the first quarter, as deals negotiated during a period of cheap money, strong multiples, and the threat of changes in tax law drew both buyers and sellers to the negotiating table. It’s time to question what impact the change in market conditions has for the investment management space.
We hope you had a great Christmas and a happy holiday season. To end the year, we summarize some themes and most read pieces from Family Business Director you may have missed throughout the year. Enjoy!
Headlines persist describing inventory shortages, record transaction prices, record profitability, and predictions for when conditions will return to normal. How do we make sense of all of it? What factors are contributing to the current conditions? Like the larger automotive industry as a whole, conditions can be described as the best of times and the worst of times, or feast or famine. Interpretation of the conditions can differ depending on the perspective of the consumer or the auto dealer.
In this weeks’ blog, we offer commentary on the status of the used vehicle market and re-examine used vehicle metrics through third quarter data. We also discuss how we got here and where we are headed.
By this Thanksgiving, Congress hopes to pass two of the largest bills in American history, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill (which was signed into law by President Biden on November 15th) along with a $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill. While the infrastructure bill made it through Congress with minimal tax hikes, the passing of the larger reconciliation bill may still create sweeping changes to American tax policy, specific to high-net-worth individuals. This article summarizes what is in the Build Back Better bill and what it might mean for taxpayers.
Getting bad business news from a third party or professional colleague often stings. Hearing the same thing from your mother? Well, we’ll leave that to the imagination. Trusted third parties or intermediaries often can blunt other complex familial layers and limit the discussion to the business at hand, making tough conversations manageable. Not easy, but manageable.
So it’s the week of the big game. What are you most looking forward to? The game? The food – appetizers and snacks? The halftime show? Or maybe the commercials? Inevitably, all of us probably have this same list of things in some particular order. The festivities will probably look entirely different this year with smaller gatherings and pandemic protocols affecting travel and public viewing at restaurants and sports bars. But what will this year’s commercial line up look like and will the auto industry participate? Will this year serve to be an aberration or is it a reflection of advertising changes impacting the auto industry and auto dealerships?
Amid many events brought on this year, many banks and their directors are evaluating strategic options and ways to create value for shareholders. While the Federal Reserve has prohibited the largest U.S. banks from share repurchases, the current environment has prompted many community banks to announce share buyback plans. In our view, there are four primary reasons that many community and regional banks are announcing or expanding share repurchase programs in the current environment. In this article, we expand on those four reasons.
Like old sports cars, acquisitions don’t come with warranties, so protecting yourself against buyer’s remorse is critical. Even with escrows and punitive terms, you can’t guarantee that you’ll get what you pay for in an acquisition; but, with a properly structured earn-out, you can at least pay for what you get.
It’s hard to see the advent of SchwabiTrade as a good thing for the RIA community – especially the wealth management community. If Schwab is looking to recapture margins from zero commission trading and low rates on sweep accounts, it need look no further than the ten thousand plus RIAs now in its eco-system.
Though probably not as historic as Plymouth landing or even the Eddie Murphy comedy, Henderson’s purchase of Denver RIA Janus Capital last month is a rare sign of confidence in active managers that have been losing ground to passive investors for quite some time. The era of ETFs and indexing has dominated asset flows for quite some time, so this transaction seems to counter the recent trend.
Despite 195 nations signing onto the Paris Climate Conference commitment to clean energy last week, it looks like Santa will be stuffing most asset managers’ stockings with coal this Christmas. Hopefully it’s at least low-sulfur.
December has been a rough slog for the RIA space. So far it’s mostly been attributed to the cracks in high yield credit. With junk bonds stumbling shortly after Thanksgiving, managers with large high yield offerings are feeling the Grinch. One standout example: WDR. Waddell & Reed’s Ivy High Income Fund has suffered huge outflows this year. Pile outflows with asset devaluation and WDR’s stock has gotten crushed, losing almost a quarter of the company’s equity market cap so far this month (!).