California Small Business For Sale Deal Count Jumped 35% Last Month Says BizBen Index

    DUBLIN, CA, September 10, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The number of deals completed on California's business for sale offerings last month jumped 35% to 1,530 from 1,137 transactions recorded during August of last year, according to the BizBen Index. The late summer activity resulted in part from a backlog of sales contracts that were started, but could not be completed in the preceding months.

"We've seen a number of sales involving small and mid-sized businesses that went through delayed closings because of the time it took financial institutions to approve and then fund business purchase loans," said Peter Siegel, MBA, Founder and President of BizBen.com, parent of the BizBen Index. "Lenders are becoming more involved in the business for sale market in California but they still are proceeding with caution."

"Whether a borrower is working with an SBA backed loan program, a conventional lender or even with private investors, he or she is encountering more paperwork, and more rules, and is having to provide more detailed verification than was the case before the banking crisis and Great Recession."

Siegel also said the August figure "helped push the year-to-date sales total to the highest it has been through the first eight months of any of the last six years. The market has yet to match the level of sales activity experienced through 2008. But with the backdrop of generally positive economic news, buyers and sellers are becoming more confident about prospects for continued expansion in consumer and commercial markets. A lot of people who put off their plans to buy or sell small businesses now are actively engaged in the business for sale market."

Most of California's largest counties recorded double digit percentage increases in the number of businesses sold last month compared to the same month last year.

Los Angeles County recorded 409 transactions, up about 25% from the tally registered in August last year. Orange County saw a boost of 30% to 155 transactions last month. The total of 58 deals completed in San Francisco last month represents an increase of about 45% from the sales count recorded last August. And Santa Clara County posted 105 transactions last month, up about 91% from the sales tally recorded the same month in 2013.

California's business sales totals last month, by county, available at http://www.bizben.com/stats/stats-monthly-aug.php are as follows:

Alameda: 77, Amador: 6, Butte: 7, Calaveras: 3, Contra Costa: 30, El Dorado: 1, Fresno: 39, Imperial: 3. Kern: 25, Los Angeles: 409, Mendocino: 2, Merced: 9, Monterey: 17, Napa: 6, Nevada: 5, Orange: 155, Placer: 19, Riverside: 73, Sacramento: 47, San Bernardino: 67, San Diego: 117, San Francisco: 58, San Joaquin: 32, San Luis Obispo: 19, San Mateo: 26, Santa Barbara: 12, Santa Clara: 105, Santa Cruz: 15, Shasta: 2, Solano: 15, Sonoma: 19, Stanislaus: 33, Sutter: 7, Tehama: 7, Tulare: 19, Tuolumne: 4, Ventura: 28, Yolo: 9, Yuba: 1

The BizBen Index has been collecting and reporting information about small California business sales for 16 years, to help business owners/sellers, business buyers and the professionals participating in this market make informed choices and achieve success when selling or buying a California small business.

For More Information:
Contact: Peter Siegel at BizBen.com
Phone: 866-270-6278

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