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Who We Are
Bishop & Company, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, provides mergers and acquisitions intermediary and advisory services to owners and prospective owners of small to mid-size companies. We serve as the seller’s intermediary, marketing the business and finding qualified buyers. We also serve as an advisor to both sellers and buyers, giving practical advice and coordinating all aspects of buying, selling or merging.
What Makes Us Unique
What makes us unique is that we are trained and experienced in all aspects of mergers and acquisitions—valuation, tax, selling, negotiating and law. David Bishop, the founder of Bishop & Company, is an intermediary/attorney/CPA/business appraiser and, since 1983, has handled every aspect of buying or selling a business. We see the sale from different perspectives, identifying costly mistakes before you make them. And we can make all the right moves. So you get your best deal—quickly, quietly and effectively.
What We Don’t Do
We can handle multiple roles—appraiser, tax advisor, strategist, selling agent and negotiator. However, we don’t seek to replace your trusted advisors such as your CPA or attorney. Because we understand each role and how they work together we can make your team more effective and cover areas where you need help.
How We Got Started (by David Bishop)
After graduating from law school at UNC-Chapel Hill, I worked first as a tax consultant/CPA with Deloitte & Touche (formerly Touche Ross) and then as a corporate attorney with a Charlotte law firm. In those roles I was fortunate to develop tax, legal and negotiating expertise in handling corporate buy-sell transactions. However, often it was a business broker or an M&A intermediary who found the buyer or seller and put together the transaction. Clearly my clients valued the intermediary's role; but they didn't like the way the intermediary operated. As some would say, "He was more concerned with closing the transaction and getting paid than making sure I got a good deal." Also, they were concerned that the intermediary did not always understand the important legal and tax issues that come up in nearly every buy-sell transaction. Based on these experiences, I saw a need for an M&A advisor who could offer the complete package of services needed by business owners—the intermediary who could find buyers and sellers and put together deals, and the trusted advisor who could provide technical advice and sound counsel. In 1990, with the help of a well-known M&A advisor in Boston, I set up my own company and began selling companies. Since that time, we have honed our valuation and deal making skills not only in the classroom but also in the real world, with hundreds of transactions under our belts, ranging in size from $2 million to $38 million.
Our Principals
David Bishop
Our Philosophy
As a college student I was walking through campus one day when I was approached by a man who asked how to get to Wilson Library. That’s easy I thought. I’ve been by there at least a hundred times. I noticed this man had a white cane. Even so, I found myself pointing in the direction of Wilson Library and trying to explain how to get there. I knew there wasn’t any point in mentioning any markers along the way. He wouldn’t see any of them. The blind man thanked me and headed off. Yet I knew he would never find Wilson Library unless someone else helped him along the way. He really didn’t need me to tell him how to get there. He needed me to walk with him.
In my business, I work with men and women who have been successful building a business. When it is time for them to sell their businesses, they need some direction. Some advisors point them in the right direction, providing valuable advice about what they should do along the way. Other advisors take the walk alone, handling the tasks without much input from the owner. We prefer to be the kind of advisor who walks with his clients.
To pull off a successful transaction, most business owners need help from a dealmaker. A dealmaker is someone who finds buyers or sellers and puts together transactions. But as important as it is to have someone who can “sell” the business, you don’t want someone who is so deal-oriented that his only concern is closing the deal—regardless of whether it is a good one.
Having a confidant is just as important as having a dealmaker. A confidant is someone you trust to tell you what to do, whether to do it, how to do it and when to do it. You need someone who will shoot straight with you and be in your corner when you need support. A confidant will protect your interest but not torpedo every less-than-perfect deal, while remaining comfortably on the sidelines.
The Solution: One Person—Two Different Skill Sets
We want to be that rare advisor who will not only connect you with the right buyer or seller but also can identify with you and what you need. We challenge you on the front end as to whether you should be buying or selling, support you when you have decided to move forward, and level with you when we think you are making a mistake. We don't waste anyone's time pursuing deals that aren’t going to happen or won’t satisfy your needs. Our clients view us as a trusted dealmaker, capable of putting together and negotiating good deals. Our secret? It's pretty simple. We have a dual perspective: Dealmaker—Confidant.
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