What Are Buyers Looking for in Lower Middle Market PCB, PCBA, EMS, Semiconductor and Advanced Manufacturing Companies?

By Paul DicksonPublished On: July 17, 2024

A cheat sheet for busy company owners looking to build value and sell in the near future

In this paper, I will briefly outline for you much of what lower middle market ($20-250M revenue) PCB/PCBA/EMS/Semiconductor and Advanced Manufacturing company acquirers are looking for these days and how you can position your company as a valuable entity to those buyers, resulting in the best sale outcome for you, your people and your company.

How do I know what buyers are looking for? Because I specialize in this industry and am speaking to buyers all the time. And frankly, many of the areas in which buyers of PCB/PCBA/EMS/Semiconductor and Advanced Manufacturing companies focus are very similar to other industries, in which I also have experience. Many of the areas below are what company acquirers focus on after sale. It turns out that knowing what these “value creation” strategies are and implementing some of them pre-sale can prove to be extremely valuable for owners of companies planning for exit.

Caveats: Although these industries are similar, they are not exactly the same for buyers. PCB companies for example, are viewed somewhat differently from PCBA/EMS companies. Manufacturing companies differ from service companies. Companies with formal intellectual property (IP) are viewed differently. Strategic buyers often vary somewhat from financial buyers. I’m happy to discuss the differences.

Lets walk through some important issues for PCB/PCBA/EMS/Semiconductor and Advanced Manufacturing company buyers. I typically break out these companies into some of the following categories (and more which we can discuss), which you should recognize, and probably more or less look at in a similar way.

You should run through these attributes with respect to your PCB/PCBA/EMS/Semiconductor and Advanced Manufacturing company and score your company on each of them, paying particular attention to the critical ones I emphasize. Once identified, most of these bulleted areas require careful planning and execution to improve. I can’t hope to compile all possible value creation and sellability areas in a short paper like this. I would be happy to provide you more data should you contact me per the below. We also provide exit planning/valuation/value creation services to assist you on your journey in building a valuable, sellable PCB/PCBA/EMS/Semiconductor and Advanced Manufacturing company. Finally, we can help you build powerful marketing materials for buyers and guide you through the exit process with our investment banking services. So, from now to exit, we’ve got you covered!

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Paul Dickson has completed over $1B in business transactions over 30 years of international business experience. Mr. Dickson has worked in sales/marketing, operations, law and finance in industries such as advanced manufacturing, microelectronics, semiconductor, software, consumer, and food and beverage. In 2002, Mr. Dickson started up his own manufacturing software company, built it and sold it to a large public company in 2006 at a significant multiple. Since selling his own company, Mr. Dickson has helped many business owners build value, prepare for exit and successfully sell their companies. Mr. Dickson holds a J.D. degree from the University of Oregon and undergraduate degree from the University of Santa Clara. He is a member of the California State Bar, and holds Series 7 and 63 FINRA/Securities Licenses. When not helping his corporate clients grow, build value and exit, you can find Mr. Dickson exercising at his beloved athletic club, fly fishing on Oregon rivers, skiing and traveling around the world to visit his children.