Our process: from the first meeting to closing
From the free valuation before the engagement to closing, here's how RCA runs the sale while you keep operating your business.
How an engagement works
A complete process generally spans 6 to 18 months. Before the engagement, everything starts with a confidential conversation with no commitment.
If we believe we can help, we prepare a free valuation: a first view of value, market context, and the issues to clarify before selling.
The formal engagement begins only after that, if you want to go further and if the file makes sense on both sides. From there, RCA runs the process — exclusively on the seller side, for Quebec SMEs with revenue of $3 million and above.
Your main role is to keep operating your business. Ours is to prepare the file, approach buyers, negotiate, and coordinate closing.
Our compensation model — 100% paid at closing — explains why we can afford to invest this work even before signing the engagement.
Orchestrated competition
Posting a listing means waiting. Our work is to orchestrate.
Several qualified buyers are approached on a precise timeline, move forward in parallel, and submit their letters of intent within a defined window.
That structured tension reveals market value and lifts the terms of the transaction, not just the price.
The 5 steps of the engagement
Initial meeting and free valuation
Week 1 — First meeting. Listening, understanding your situation, mutual assessment of fit.
No prepared pitch, no brochure. Free, confidential, no commitment.
If we don't see how we can help, we say so — and we don't take the engagement.
Weeks 2-5 — Free valuation. If the fit looks right, we offer a preliminary valuation: quick modeling, a value range based on comparables, first strategic observations.
You see concretely how we work before signing anything.
Mutual decision. If the fit is confirmed on both sides, the engagement is signed.
If not, you leave with a useful valuation at no cost.
Expanded valuation and preparation
This is where the sale file is built: value, proof, buyers to approach, and go-to-market strategy.
- Complete financial modeling — discounted cash flow (DCF), the multiples method, comparable transactions. Value becomes a defensible model, not an estimate.
- Market analysis — a realistic range based on the valuation multiples observed in your industry.
- Preparing the confidential information memorandum (CIM) — a 30-60 page document that presents your business to serious, qualified buyers.
- Identifying and approaching potential buyers — research, qualification, and outreach to relevant buyers based on their capacity, strategic logic, and potential interest.
- Go-to-market strategy — order of approach, angle per target, timeline, preserving confidentiality.
Approaching identified buyers
Confidential, proactive outreach to the targets selected in step 2.
- Anonymous approach: first contact without naming the business. No documents shared at this stage.
- Non-disclosure agreement (NDA): signed with every buyer who expresses serious interest.
- CIM distribution: delivered to buyers under NDA.
- Management meetings and site visits: organized and supervised to preserve confidentiality.
- Ongoing filtering: qualifying real interest versus simple curiosity.
Negotiation
Handling the letters of intent (LOI) received and negotiating the key terms:
- Price and structure (share sale or asset sale, different tax impact)
- Payment terms — cash, vendor take-back, earn-out
- Representations and warranties (what you warrant to the buyer)
- Non-compete clause (duration, territory, activities)
- Post-sale transition period (your role after closing)
RCA leads at the front. The seller keeps the distance needed to decide.
Due diligence and closing
Coordination of seller-side due diligence and closing with the chosen buyer.
- Virtual data room management: preparation, organization, access control.
- Answering buyer questions: RCA filters, prepares, and validates every answer with you.
- Coordinating outside professionals: your lawyer, tax specialist, accountant — RCA orchestrates, you keep control.
- Negotiating definitive documents: purchase and sale agreement, ancillary agreements.
- Closing: final coordination, transfer of funds, transfer of ownership.
Your role vs RCA's role
You stay in control. We carry the transaction load.
You stay at the controls
You set the broad direction, decide which concessions are acceptable, and decide when to move forward.
Your time is protected
We filter and pace the process so the transaction doesn't absorb your attention.
We absorb the complexity
Buyers, documentation, due diligence, negotiation: we carry the mechanics end to end.
| RCA handles | The seller |
|---|---|
| Market valuation and financial modeling | Keeps running the business day-to-day |
| Preparing the confidential information memorandum | Provides financial statements and requested information |
| Strategic identification and outreach to buyers | Makes the key decisions (accepting/rejecting an offer) |
| Negotiating price and terms | Validates the transaction terms |
| Coordinating due diligence | Stays available for buyers' questions |
| Coordinating closing with lawyer, CPA, tax specialist | Signs the purchase and sale agreement |
You keep doing what you do best — running your business — while RCA does what we do best: executing the transaction.