By Steve Zacharias

Dear friends, clients and colleagues,

It has been months since I have written you so I hope this message finds you doing well personally; and your business is successfully weathering the economic storm that hit us in 2008 and into 2009. It impacted each of us in different ways.

As business owners, many of us quickly battened down the hatches to combat what we believed to be a long drawn out recession.

Some of us have been required to make certain "adjustments" to sustain ourselves in facing the uncertain future. And for others, this deep economic downturn has served to strengthen us on all fronts - making our personal lives more enriched with the realization that there is much more to life than a bulging 401(k) account, flat screen TV's on every wall and matching BMW's in the driveway.

Despite all the gloom and doom, there are some hopeful signs on the horizon - so called "green shoots", indicating potential recovery ahead. A slowing pace of initial unemployment claims suggests the recession may be easing and could foreshadow a revival in consumer spending. The frozen housing market appears to be thawing in some areas thanks to historically low interest rates, stabilizing prices and tax credit refund incentives. Major banks endured stress tests that told us - well, we don't really know for sure - but financial stocks have been recovering nicely of late and the S&P market index actually rose above the level it was at on January 1st of this year. Most financial prognosticators are beginning to turn and predict an earlier upswing in the economy than originally thought. However, we also know there are no assurances that we are out of the woods, and some believe we have not seen the real economic "bottom" as of yet.

Closer to home and to Transact, the business transaction climate is definitely down, but is amazingly better than may be expected. Sure, after closing several deals last fall, deal closings at Transact came to a complete halt in January (sort of like Tiger's golf game following his knee surgery).

But more recently, deal flow is actually increasing and we expected it to be ahead of 2008 by August. We just closed a sale transaction on April 30th, and have three other transactions under contract. New clients no longer come in to our office talking about waiting until the "market" returns to normal to sell their company; they seem to "get it" -- that valuations may be down somewhat but the sale proceeds will buy much more today than it would two years ago, whether it be stocks, bonds, real estate, a new car or a coffee latte (at McDonalds McCafe of course)!

And for those who said - "gee, I wish I had sold my company two years ago", I say "...sure, would you have invested the proceeds in the stock market then and where would you be today?" I think you "get it", so let's move on. (For more on this topic, please read the article by my colleague Stan Maupin below).

Anyway, we have our health... and the economy will improve - it always does. And we will look back and second guess our decisions (or lack there of) during this crisis. And there will be a new "bubble" one day - maybe in "green energy" (reminds me of black tulips see tulip-mania - or biotech (remember earthworm farming!)

So thanks for letting me share these random thoughts with you, and I wish all of you great success, good health and prosperity in the future. Now it is time to get back to business!

Steve Zacharias
Managing Partner
Transact Capital Partners

and Why You Shouldn't Care

By Stan Maupin

A question I often hear from business owners: "Will 2009 be a good time to sell my business?" They are wondering whether the market for business acquisitions has suffered the same pummeling that the real estate market has experienced. Are things so bad that they shouldn't even consider selling their business this year?

Unlike real estate, this isn't a question you can answer statistically. It is hard to find timely data on the subject, and you can't easily use "comparables" to determine trends in values. Instead you have to explore two fundamental questions about the marketplace: Is there strong demand among potential buyers of businesses, and is there capital available to pay for those acquisitions?

Let's end the suspense right now: The rest of 2009 will be a good time to sell a business. There are at least six trends that support that conclusion, and I will list them for you later.

But before I do, I'm going to tell you why you really shouldn't care about the conclusion or the six reasons that support it. More accurately, I want to tell you about two things that you should think about first ? maximizing the return on your capital and meeting your personal needs.

In order to maximize the return on the capital you have invested in your business, you should... continue reading.