𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘆 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 …

By Sebastian Amieva

I still remember that I wore a suit I had bought from a second hand store, and every day I went to work at the Charles’s Law Firm by bus. There were days that I couldn't stand working there anymore and I wanted to quit because it was crazy for me to think of the fact that you could buy a company without using your own money...

Before then, I didn’t believe THAT could be real.

Picture: Sebastian Amieva at Four Seasons Hotel

13 years have passed since my first acquisition of that logistics company and at that time there were more than 200 employees and several trucks.

It was BIG deal for us.

Let me tell you how the whole process went.

One day I arrived at the office early and the lawyer Charles told me that he wanted me to attend a negotiation for the acquisition of a logistics company that was in various financial problems (distressed deal) to be exact it had 12 million in debts with suppliers and banks and had 12 million assets between real estate, trucks, etc.

It was very early in the morning when someone knocked at the door. The assistant opened the door and the shareholders (2 brothers) walked in.

We went to the meeting room and while we had a coffee, the shareholders told us how they started the business, what adversities they have been through and why they decided to sell. The truth is that they were very exhausted and very motivated to sell also due to them struggling financially.

We quickly analyzed the balance sheet and P&L on the table.  Charles the lawyer decides to pause and tell them that “at the moment we are acquiring another Company and that deal will close soon, from what we observe this company has the same amount of assets as Liabilities, which we can assume the responsibility for the 12 million debts generated by you and sign today a Share Purchase Agreement for $1 and start restructuring this company”.

The last thing Charles said was: “We want to take all this hustle away and help you out”.

Yes, you heard that right!  $1. At that moment I remained silent and thinking how is it possible for someone to sell a company for $1….

To summarize this story, the day the SPA was signed we went to the main office to take control of the logistics company that we bought for $1.  There was a brand new Mercedes Benz in the parking lot and Charles told me “Sebastian this is yours, it was the car of one of the shareholders that corresponded to the company”.

I could not believe it!  I went from taking the bus to having a car that only Upper Class had at that time, I went from cheap suits to custom made clothes.

It was a big change in my mentality as a

Businessman and it was a great lesson that I had to see with my own eyes to believe it since my previous employee mentality did not allow me to even fathom such opportunities!

I think we are all have opportunities and we should be more attentive to the thoughts we tell ourselves daily. If I closed a deal at such a young age and with almost no resources, I firmly believe you can too!!

I wish you the best in your business career,

See ya in the inbox!

Sebastian H. Amieva

Investor | M&A Mentor | Globetrotter

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-h-amieva-85355a184