Market Maker Agriculture is a small team of entrepreneurs who have helped support the agriculture industry for nearly 20 years. The company offers a viable solution to agribusiness owners who are planning their succession, retiring, or trying to expand without major debt. “By helping these smaller companies continue to thrive, we help strengthen North American agriculture,” says Market Maker’s Lisa Courtney Lloyd who along with her colleagues have worked closely with more than 100 farm families over the years. “Agriculture is an essential industry that is under-serviced, especially when it comes to business transition. Consider entrepreneurs who have spent their lives building an agribusiness and now want to slow down or retire. Their choices are limited: they can sell to a competitor or larger company that absorbs them, or they can close the doors. Market Maker offers another option: we acquire a controlling interest in companies but leave the operating of it to employees for the long term. The ownership changes but the legacy is kept intact.”
While many investors avoid small and medium-sized companies with seasonal cash flows, Market Maker is looking for them. “We understand the ups and downs of agriculture as well as the peaks and valleys of annual cash flow. To use a well-worn cliché, we believe we are creating something where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” says Courtney Lloyd. “When you join our portfolio, you become part of our family of businesses that complement each other and help to reduce risk for all.”
In the produce industry where many companies are family-owned and operated, the second or third generation family members want a way to grow their business without the burden of debt. By joining the Market Maker portfolio, those companies reduce their risk while gaining access to capital. “A next generation family member can continue to manage the company and preserve the family’s heritage with fewer cash flow worries,” says Courtney Lloyd. “We help companies achieve their growth potential.”
Where a business is owned by multiple partners, Market Maker could buy out one or more partners who want to retire, leaving the others to stay on and manage the business operations, retaining (or increasing) their ownership, participating in the future growth of the business.
Market Maker’s approach is to engage in a transparent process that helps benefit both parties. As Courtney Lloyd explains, “Business transition is a big decision; it’s a life decision but it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Agriculture is integral to the fabric of our economies and our societies and we want to help strengthen it by providing owners another option.”
Thinking about retirement or business transition? Give us a call and let’s sit down and talk. (613) 656-8576; email info@marketmakerag.com; www.marketmakerag.com
