How RBG Capital keeps financial advisors front and center when an entrepreneurial client sells or recapitalizes — with the relationship protected in writing.
For most financial advisors, it eventually happens: a long-standing entrepreneurial client calls and says they are ready to sell the business — or that a private equity firm has approached them with an unsolicited offer. It is the single largest liquidity event of the client's life, and it is also a moment of real professional risk for the advisor. Bring in the wrong transaction partner, and the advisor can find themselves cut out of the process, out of the planning conversations, and ultimately out of the relationship.
We built our practice around a different model. We believe the client's trusted advisor belongs in the foxhole for the entire engagement — not waiting outside for a phone call when the deal closes.
The Advisor Stays Front and Center
When a financial advisor introduces a client to RBG Capital, the advisor remains central to the engagement from the first discovery meeting through closing. That is not a courtesy; it is how the work gets done well. The advisor knows the client's family dynamics, risk tolerance, and long-term goals better than anyone at the deal table, and that context shapes every major decision in a transaction.
We put structure behind that commitment:
- Non-solicitation agreements. We formalize, in writing, that we are not in the wealth management business and will not pursue the client's investable assets — before, during, or after the transaction.
- Joint planning from day one. Tax planning, estate planning, family office considerations, and charitable giving strategies are addressed alongside the transaction itself, in coordination with the advisor and the client's other professionals — not as an afterthought once the wire clears.
- Shared visibility. The advisor is included in the engagement's cadence of communication, so they are never learning about a development from their client secondhand.
Where an advisor has performed substantive planning work in connection with an engagement, compensation arrangements may be available, subject to the advisor's firm policies and applicable regulatory requirements.
Four Disciplines, One Team
Successful exits in the lower middle market are not just investment banking exercises. They sit at the intersection of four advisory quadrants: wealth management, legal, accounting, and investment banking. A transaction structured brilliantly for price but poorly for taxes — or one that closes before the estate plan is in place — leaves real money and real options on the table.
Our role is to quarterback the transaction while integrating the work of all four quadrants, with the client's existing advisors handling the disciplines they already own. Having advised business owners since 1986, we have seen how structures interact with IRS rules in ways that can meaningfully change a seller's after-tax outcome — and how much smoother the process runs when every professional at the table is rowing in the same direction.
The Companies We Serve
Our engagements span mergers, divestitures, acquisitions, management buyouts, recapitalizations, ESOPs, and structured growth equity and debt. The businesses we represent generally share this profile:
- Revenue: roughly $15 million to $100 million
- EBITDA: generally $2 million to $15 million, with flexibility for smaller companies in select industries
- Ownership: founders and families contemplating a full exit, a partial liquidity event, or a recapitalization that funds the next phase of growth
For clients who are not ready for a transaction today, the conversation is still worth having early. Preparation time is one of the most reliable levers for improving a seller's eventual outcome, and the planning work — tax, estate, and corporate readiness — is exactly where the financial advisor's role is most valuable.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A typical engagement begins with a confidential discovery process covering the owner's transaction objectives, time horizon, financial and estate planning posture, and the tax consequences of the structures under consideration. From there, we evaluate the full range of paths — strategic sale, financial buyer, management buyout, or ESOP — and run a process designed to create competitive tension among qualified parties.
Throughout, the advisor's seat at the table is protected, the client's broader plan stays coordinated, and the relationship the advisor spent years building remains exactly where it belongs: with the advisor.
If you are a financial advisor with a client weighing an exit or recapitalization, we welcome a confidential conversation about whether our process fits their situation. You can learn more about our business succession practice here.
