Marx Group Advisors

These are challenging times for the Automotive and Heavy Duty Aftermarkets. Owners of Aftermarket enterprises are reaching their 60’s and often have neither a family member to take the reins, or a succession plan in place. What do they do? Give the company to their key employees? Wait until they’re ready to retire and close the doors? Hope for a white knight to enter the picture? Owners are faced with additional challenges: the need for capital in a difficult financial market, consolidations that narrow the field for prospective new business, or declining profitability or owners may just be ready to move on.

This is also an era of significant opportunity. Savvy business leaders realize that growth through acquisition is often more efficient and successful than organic growth. Due to consolidations in the distribution and retail channels, there are fewer new business opportunities, which will weed out weaker and less diversified companies. And with an economy that makes capital more expensive and difficult to obtain, companies with strong balance sheets now see opportunities to expand market share, eliminate a competitor or grow into markets that have been difficult to penetrate.