I'm looking to buy a business in the Philippines. Any advice?

@JustCallMeJoe One of our distributors here in Laguna, Testech Corporation has @3000 employees, a full sales/marketing team whom I am working with to bring them up to speed on the various products we have assigned to them to be exclusive distributors.   We have sold about P1 million in products to them since last year, with several big contracts in the works now.  Our Thailand Distributor Somruk Bisalbutra is the Number 1 Pool builder in Thailand with numerous signed contracts for both Clearwater Pool Products and Scaleblaster products with monthly and more often orders exceeding $6000 per order.   Our Clearwater/Scaleblaster distributor, Pools & Ponds Philippines is new, has purchased @$6000 in products, all sold and has pending order of @$12,000.  We expect annual sales to exceed $100k this coming year and as we work with David Kluv, we expect his company to continue to grow fast.

As for time spent working, now I spend fewer than 10 hours per week actually advertising and writing Proformas for our distributors.  We will be hiring one person to focus on advertising to supplement our distributors and help them to grow.

We have continued working throughout the pandemic as it only slowed down and affected us here in the Philippines.

Current clients here include Ramcar Corp., Rebisco Corp.,(SPI Corporation), Gardenia Bread, Unilever Corp. HSBC, VXI, Sutherland Global and many more.

We are in negotiations now with members of Jollibee company and affiliates with meeting last week and another meeting this coming week. 

While our numbers do not look big, the products we have permission to sell from Manufacturers around the world are the very best for Reducing Electricity, Water Consumption and even fuel in boilers and automobiles,buses, etc.  Once a full team is involved, I am positive the numbers you seek are easily attainable.

I would be willing to stay involved for a year, attending virtual meetings, etc. To bring your team up to speed.

You can find me on LinkedIn by searching my company or by my name

Michael White

@JustCallMeJoe you may reach me at ***

You may be interested in a new Enterprise I am starting here to produce biofuel pellets from coco coir. I am looking for a good business partner with money to get this project started. I have enough land to start an operation for show, and then it is easily upscaleable with bringing in outside investors. I also have potential buyers of all material we can produce here, selling to Indonesia and Vietnam. With demand for 125MT per month. Let me know if you are interested.

Mike

Michael White

@JustCallMeJoe let's set up a conference call with my business partner on biofuel pellets production and see if you are interested after we discuss numbers with you. We are both on LinkedIn, Alister Short and Michael White, search for Essential Efficiency Enterprise if you cannot find my name.

***

Look forward to chatting with you.

@Bhavna I clicked on his name,but send a message is not an option

Michael, thanks for the numbers. It looks like an interesting business that's set to grow what with the distributor agreements etc you have in place. Sadly, it does not come close to fitting the criteria I specified in previous posts.

I'm not looking for (maybe, possible, future) sales of $100K, I'm looking for net (past) profit of $100K per year.

I'm not impressed by the size of the market nor the reach of your customers/potential customers. I'm interested in a demonstrated history of delivering a six figure profit. Your business, sadly, meets neither the proven track record requirement nor is it the requisite size. Please refer to my previous posts to read what my requirements actually are. Thank you.

With respect your new enterprise, again I wish you luck but I don't touch new enterprises, not even with long barge poles. It's not that they're bad investments, it's just that they're not me investments. I've started and grown successful businesses from the ground up. That's in my past, not my future. Again, it's something I've mentioned before. Please do keep up.

*An audited financial report?

As well as off the street Lotus, learnt a long time ago to stay away.

Cheers, Steve.

@JustCallMeJoe My business is sustainable and just perfect for me, good luck in finding any business here that fits your needs with your budget.  I wish you the best!

So why sell? Perfect for you and apparently profitable, Quick buck, opportunity knocked?

Good luck to both of you in your endeavors.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

@JustCallMeJoe My business is sustainable and just perfect for me, good luck in finding any business here that fits your needs with your budget. I wish you the best!
-@mikenmanila

"good luck in finding any business here that fits your needs with your budget."?

LOL, I detect a tone of dismissal / condescension

When it comes to buying and selling businesses, I know a lot more than you may think I do. Let me assure you that professionals in the industry would not consider your business "sustainable" but you may view your own business however you want. The average business broker refers to these microbusinesses as "lifestyle" businesses and sometimes even uses the quite derogatory "job" (as in "you've built a job for yourself, not a business").

I think that you haven't even done that. You're a startup and you hope to build a job for yourself one day. That is not a put down, that's just a fact and there's no shame in owning a startup, I have great respect for people who take that leap and shoulder that risk. I also wish you all the best with it.

I've now spoken with accountants, lawyers and business brokers in the Philippines (including a one hour chat with a nice Australian guy in General Santos, called Ray, who works with numerous business brokers who've outsourced their marketing to him). I've spoken with a Hungarian owner of a BPO business in PH, we met in London for a coffee yesterday. I've done a fair bit of other research.

I've also now done an initial assessment on a select few businesses currently listed with the likes of Link Business Brokers and others, just to get a feel for things. I would prefer a business that's not already on the market / listed with a broker, but I am more than satisfied that I can find a business with the criteria specified within the budget I'm looking to spend. The budget doesn't seem a problem at all given the multiples I'm seeing there. In fact, in the PH even asking prices (as a multiple of EBITDA) are lower than prices at which deals close in the UK.

*An audited financial report?
-@Enzyte Bob

Unfortunately, no. Even in the UK, companies aren't required to get an audit till they exceed £10m in revenue. With smaller businesses it's about getting access to the numbers and taking forensics to it. It's amazing what you can figure out when you take a proper deep dive into the numbers . But you won't get audited figures, and in any case, I wouldn't trust an audit report unless the auditor was someone instructed (and paid) by me. I'm not even going to trust all those KPMG, PwC characters, they are the worst!

So why sell? Perfect for you and apparently profitable, Quick buck, opportunity knocked?
Good luck to both of you in your endeavors.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.
-@bigpearl

Why sell is a question that comes up often.

Reasons:

1. The seller knows that the sh*t is about to hit the fan. Perhaps a major contract is not going to get renewed. Or the business is facing a big lawsuit. Or something else. The seller is bailing. As a buyer, one should always assume that this is the reason (before starting due diligence).
2. The seller is retiring / old / terminally ill / etc and there's no family succession plan in place.
3. The seller needs money, whether it's to pay a divorce settlement, other legal bill, or medical expenses.
4. Other reasons: Young entrepreneurs often want to move on to their next big idea.

Nobody has asked this so I will.

JCMJoe, why the Philippines, especially since you've never been here?

Nobody has asked this so I will.
JCMJoe, why the Philippines, especially since you've never been here?
-@bizwizard

SRRV

(Largely) English speaking country, with beaches and (usually) good weather. Low cost of living.

I spent a lot of time investigating online before putting together a small shortlist of where I would like to live when I retire. PH is at the top of the list (based on the criteria I set).

bizwizaed asked JustCallMeJoe . . Nobody has asked this so I will.
JCMJoe, why the Philippines, especially since you've never been here?

*************************************

Joe replied . . . . English speaking country, with beaches and (usually) good weather. Low cost of living.

I spent a lot of time investigating online before putting together a small shortlist of where I would like to live when I retire. PH is at the top of the list (based on the criteria I set).

************************************

Seems this Joe's post does not make sense after reading his post #55.

Joe retire or be a Mogul?

@Enzyte Bob

Sorry the post I was referring to was Joes' #45 not #55

bizwizaed asked JustCallMeJoe . . Nobody has asked this so I will.
JCMJoe, why the Philippines, especially since you've never been here?
*************************************

Joe replied . . . . English speaking country, with beaches and (usually) good weather. Low cost of living.

I spent a lot of time investigating online before putting together a small shortlist of where I would like to live when I retire. PH is at the top of the list (based on the criteria I set).
************************************
Seems this Joe's post does not make sense after reading his post #55.

Joe retire or be a Mogul?
-@Enzyte Bob

My first post says I'm looking to get a retirement visa.

Subsequent posts have explained that I want to own a business that has a full management team in place and doesn't require me on a day to day basis.

The two are not incompatible.

I'm sorry I can't explain it in Tagalog.

JustCall Me Joe said. . . I'm sorry I can't explain it in Tagalog.

************************

I don't speak Tagalog, I speak the Queens English.

JustCall Me Joe said. . . I'm sorry I can't explain it in Tagalog.
************************
I don't speak Tagalog, I speak the Queens English.
-@Enzyte Bob

Oh, the irony!

And regardless come, stay, get your hands dirty for a year or three before you decide on any investments here, all painted with a similar brush for the unwary.

Philippines is for retirement for most old fogies like me, if I wanted to continue business activities it would be Australia and certainly not here. Conducting any business enterprises here for a foreigner is fraught with danger, loop holes and scammers, boots on the ground and little more. Time reveals all.

Cheers, Steve.

Appreciate the advice.

Am looking forward to my investigation trip later this year.

I don't jump into business easily. I've had business successes but I've also had businesses go bust on me! You learn a few lessons along the way.

I'd like to reassure you that I'm an old fogie as well, I'll be 60 in a few years, but I don't fancy chilling on the beach all day. I'll engage in some voluntary activities, but do need something with meat as well.

Bonjour à tous,

J'ai lue quelques commentaires sur ce website

Et on n'a pas la même opinion.

Tu ne viens pas au philippines pour faire de l'argents car vous aller être déçu. Parcontre si vous venez pour une retraite alors la on parle.

Am 62 and live in ph since about 2 years now.

Je suis présentement au Québec pour vendre une propriété. Retour sept 23.

Je n'ai pas besoin de travailler financièrement et ma pension paye tous mes frais.

Mais nous avons partie une boulangerie  2 ans passer et ouvrons un  fournisseur de boulangerie cette automne, on achète et vend de l'or plus quelques autres petite entrée argents. J'ai été très chanceux de rencontrer cette pinay car me demander de l'argent ne fait partie de son vocabulaire (indépendante financièrement)

Je vois que ca semble déranger beaucoup le monde de savoir que vous pouvez pas être propriétaire de terrain et PARFAIT COMME CA!! Just look your country immigration en masse mes voisins était des chinois arabe et africain. Avec 100 M d'habitant dans le pays il surveille l'immigration de masse ce que nous faisons pas dans nos pays.

Donc ma femme a son terrain et on va construire une petite maison dessus alors si je decedait madame serait à l'abri. Les gens qui n'ont pas cette penser ne devraient pas s'installer dans un pays qui NE les convient pas.

ROAD TRAFFIC ?

1.5 M MILES MONTREAL- CALIFORNIA AND 32 YEARS AS COMMERCIAL HELICOPTER PILOT.

m'y reflex are sharp et je conduit comme eux maintenant 🤪🇵🇭 mais c'est l'Asie du sud et c'est comme ça partout.RELAX GUYS YOU RETIRED ENJOY.

ADAPTATION!! LE MOT MAGIC

SKIPPER385 🤟🇵🇭🇨🇦🏝

French & english learning visaya😬

Hello everyone,

I read some comments on this website

And we don't have the same opinion.

You don't come to the Philippines to make money because you will be disappointed.  On the other hand, if you come for a retreat then we talk.

Am 62 and live in ph since about 2 years now.

I am currently in Quebec to sell a property.  Return Sept 23.

I don't need to work financially and my pension pays all my expenses.

But we started a bakery 2 years ago and are opening a bakery supplier this fall, we buy and sell gold plus a few other small silver entries.  I was very lucky to meet this pinay because asking me for money is not part of her vocabulary (financially independent)

I see it seems to bother people a lot to know that you can't own land and PERFECT AS IT!!  Just look your country mass immigration my neighbors were Arab and African Chinese.  With 100 million inhabitants in the country, it monitors mass immigration, which we do not do in our countries.

So my wife has her land and we're going to build a little house on it so if I died, Madame would be safe.  People who don't have this thinking shouldn't settle in a country that is NOT suitable for them.

ROAD TRAFFIC?

1.5 M MILES MONTREAL- CALIFORNIA AND 32 YEARS AS COMMERCIAL HELICOPTER PILOT.

I think about it are sharp and I drive like them now 🤪🇵🇭 but it's South Asia and it's like that everywhere.RELAX GUYS YOU RETIRED ENJOY.

ADAPTATION!!  THE MAGIC WORD

SKIPPER385 🤟🇵🇭🇨🇦🏝

French & english learning visaya😬

But we started a bakery 2 years ago and are opening a bakery supplier this fall,

-@Réal Marchand

Like I said, I wouldn't dream of starting a business there! I would almost certainly get wiped out. So kudos to you for giving it a shot.

@JustCallMeJoe

Micro business its the trick 😉

@JustCallMeJoe I'm looking for net (past) profit of $100K per year. Ouch good luck 😬

As you point out, there are micro businesses. These are one man bands, or mum and pop businesses or businesses with a few employees. I'm not interested in any of these.

You then have the lower mid market, say about 50 employees (or more often calibrated in turnover/EBITDA). These would be businesses up to about $50m in turnover. I'm looking at the lower end of this market. In the UK, there are several thousand such businesses sold every year. The numbers would differ for PH of course.

That's followed by the mid-market, businesses upwards of $50m upto about $500m. Several hundred of these sell every year just in the south east of England!

And lastly you have the bulge bracket - mega businesses worth in the billions (or hundreds of billions!)

All those markets operate very, very differently to each other.

Some small business  where you do not deal with the public yourself, might be ok, but remember if your competing  against a Filipino they have a way to stop competition,  even Filipinos are not safe, your life is worth nothing, people are murdered for as little as $5000 pesos I have witnessed  accounts  of murders over land and business, the death of a foreigner is not a priority of law enforcement

They won't  post my comment, so here it is simple, do not go into business  in the Philippines

Brewpub or taco shop in the vicinity of expats

They won't post my comment, so here it is simple, do not go into business in the Philippines
-@Okieboy

The Philippines has and always will be a playground for older western males to enjoy their later years in life. It is tricky enough navigating the ‘love' maze and potential Filipina honeytraps let alone investing capital into a business.

It's an oft used cliché but it's far easier to lose money than make money in this land of contradictions.

Sorry for unsolicited advice, my friend, but if you have money just invest them in Georgia. This country is booming. Second, you can try posting on reddit. I can suggest:https://www.reddit.com/r/phinvest/https://www.reddit.com/r/phclassifieds/

They won't post my comment, so here it is simple, do not go into business in the Philippines
-@Okieboy
The Philippines has and always will be a playground for older western males to enjoy their later years in life. It is tricky enough navigating the ‘love' maze and potential Filipina honeytraps let alone investing capital into a business.

It's an oft used cliché but it's far easier to lose money than make money in this land of contradictions.
-@Lotus Eater

That could also lead to further problems down the line. I am assuming the O/P is not going to live the life of a nun over there so if he were to get into a serious long term relationship and buys or invests in a business, if things went wrong in the relationship, then who knows what the ex will do to grab a share of the business or force him to sell so she is financially set up.

If you are interested in business as biofuel pellets producer, I can help you.  Bio-char and biofuel pellets have a large market in other countries.  I will be starting just such a business where I live very soon.  If you are interested to be a part of this business, do your due diligence and then we talk.  You thought my other business was not big enough for the income you plan to make.  I suggest you do not think big to first start as you will definitely lose your money.  I started small and since 2014 have grown my company here and internationally.  Feel free to contact me on LinkedIn.  Michael White Director Essential Efficiency Enterprise.

... so if he were to get into a serious long term relationship .
-@Cherryann01

I've been there, done that, am paying the alimony

I can't see that happening again, especially not in a foreign country! No marriage, no long term relationships in the plan.

Mike, it sounds like an interesting sector and you had me ....till you said the magic words "I will be starting..."

If I may be so bold as to modify something someone said earlier in this thread: There is no quicker way to losing money in the Philippines than by starting a business. At least for me that would be the quickest way to losing money.

Starting small and building the business is exactly what I DON'T want to do! I want a stable business and one run by local people who understand the market, the culture, the language, the everything (and who have demonstrated a history of managing the business and generating the profit level I seek). I'll set the KPIs and build healthy reward schemes to compensate them for hitting targets etc but it will be them continuing to run the business, not me. I'll be checking the regular management accounts but otherwise shall be adopting more of an NED function.

BTW, due diligence is not what you seem to think it is. DD is a forensic examination of the accounts, the legalities etc etc when considering an acquisition. But this isn't the acquisition of a business you're proposing, it's the funding of a startup. DD is a bit of a fancy term for a "business" which exists only in someone's imagination. If you want an investor in your startup, may I suggest YOU do the research, put together a proper pitch deck and approach HNWIs, business angels, seed funders etc to get funding. Sadly, I'm none of those, I'm sorry.

Thank you for the offer to connect in LinkedIn. I have an active LinkedIn account but I'll pass on connecting for now as I do not wish to reveal my identity at this point.

I do wish you the best of look if you go ahead with your plan but I do have a few questions for you.

1. Do you have enough money to see you through your retirement years if you loose your investment money or a big part of it in this business?
2. Why did you not invest  money in a personal pension plan when you were younger?
3. Do you have any qualifying years at all for the State Pension?
4. Why buy a business in the Philippines instead of one of the developing countries you mentioned that you have had a business in before?
5. Could you really trust somebody else in the Philippines to run the day to day aspects and take the role of NED.

I have never owned a business or been involved in the running of a business but I would imagine that it is one thing to know about growing a business and knowing which business to buy but another, more riskier proposition letting a local do most of the work for you.

There was an English guy about 20 years ago who sold everything he owned including his clothes and raised about 130K (American). He jumped on a plane to Vegas, went to the casino and went to the  roulette

table and put the lot on Red. All his dosh on one spin of the wheel. If your answer to the first question is NO, it kinda feels like you are doing the same.

Cherryann01 said . . . . There was an English guy about 20 years ago who sold everything he owned including his clothes and raised about 130K (American). He jumped on a plane to Vegas, went to the casino and went to the roulette table and put the lot on Red. All his dosh on one spin of the wheel.

************************************************

Yes I saw a video of this. Actually this guy chose one number at the odds of 35 to 1. At the last moment he switch to red. It wasn't his day, yes he won his bet at 1 to 1, but the number he shied away from won.

I do wish you the best of look if you go ahead with your plan but I do have a few questions for you.

Do you have enough money to see you through your retirement years if you loose your investment money or a big part of it in this business?
Why did you not invest money in a personal pension plan when you were younger?
Do you have any qualifying years at all for the State Pension?
Why buy a business in the Philippines instead of one of the developing countries you mentioned that you have had a business in before?
Could you really trust somebody else in the Philippines to run the day to day aspects and take the role of NED.

I have never owned a business or been involved in the running of a business but I would imagine that it is one thing to know about growing a business and knowing which business to buy but another, more riskier proposition letting a local do most of the work for you.

There was an English guy about 20 years ago who sold everything he owned including his clothes and raised about 130K (American). He jumped on a plane to Vegas, went to the casino and went to the roulette
table and put the lot on Red. All his dosh on one spin of the wheel. If your answer to the first question is NO, it kinda feels like you are doing the same.
-@Cherryann01

I cannot talk about my pension entitlement, NI contributions (or lack thereof) and other such matters without disclosing personal details that could be used to work out my identity (I'm fairly well known in my field).

But, yes, I'm not investing my entire savings in the business; in the unlikely event I lose the investment, I can still survive.

Why the Philippines? Well, if I've decided to retire in PH, I figured it didn't make sense to buy a business in Delhi

No, I don't trust anyone to run the business like I would run it. Not a Filipino, not a Brit. Not initially.

But once you move up from the mum and pop shop mentality and run a larger business, a transition I had to make myself some while ago, you realise that you have to let other people run the day to day stuff and you have to break out of micromanaging them. To start off they won't do a job as good as you, but your job is to develop them so they become better than you at running the business (and to closely monitor their performance. Not interfere, just monitor, guide, train, encourage).

The skills to build a business are very different to the skills needed to run an established business with a full tier 2 management team in place. As is the amount of effort it takes.

He seemed to be happy anyway but 35/1, imagine that.

Are you hiding from the Tax Man Joe?