Birkett Long for £16.6M vs Don Electronics for est. £13.1M nominal. which deferral would you rather take?
two UK listed buyers, two prices where part of the money arrives late. Knights bought Birkett Long, an Essex law firm with 91 fee earners and a separate IFA business, for £16.6M. £10M initial cash, £6.6M deferred over three years. sellers were the firm's equity partners. Braime bought Don Electronics (with Synatel Instrumentation), a maker that already supplied Braime. it puts the value at an estimated £13.1M nominal. £5.0M initial cash, £4.9M deferred, plus contingent consideration running over six years. the seller was Donelec Group. the difference i keep looking at is how long you wait and how much of it is fixed. three years for a set amount, versus a deferred chunk plus a contingent piece that runs six. i don't know if the deferred parts have conditions attached in either case. if you were the seller, which would you take and why? or is the seller type (partners vs a group) the real difference?
