Two local veterans receive Quilts of Valor quilts

Alan "Lindy" Linda of New York Mills and Dr. Bill Rose of Perham, both Vietnam veterans, were presented quilts through the local Quilts of Valor group during its annual fundraiser held each year on March 17, at the American Legion Hall in Underwood.

Linda and Rose, a Purple Heart recipient, were among the 11 quilt recipients. Jenny Caughey, state Quilts of Valor coordinator, also spoke at the event last Friday.

Quilters Embrace, the local quilting group that presented the quilts, is comprised of quilters from Amor, Dent and Fergus Falls, according to Nett Kupferschmid of Perham.

The fundraiser has helped pay for a bus to take the quilters to various Army bases around the country to present the handmade quilts and fabric to continue to make the quilts.

Thousands of quilts have been given at locations around the country, Kupferschmid said, but recently the focus has been on presenting quilts to local veterans.

Business Exits: Selling to Private Equity v. Selling to a Strategic Buyer

Selling your business to private equity (“PE“) is very different to selling to a strategic buyer. They each approach deals in different ways, so you need to understand these differences and respond accordingly so as to secure the best deal.

As a general proposition, there are usually two types of buyers for a mid-market business:
A financial buyer — one who seeks to get a return on the investment made in the company and looks for businesses with growth opportunities and defensible competitive advantages. The return sought is an attractive return on investment and a profit on the sale of the company in a trade sale or IPO. PE companies are often financial buyers.

A strategic buyer — one who seeks out companies that have products or services that are complementary to their own, customer bases that they would like to own or IP they would like to own. They intend to integrate those businesses into their own business to create long term shareholder value. Growth oriented companies in the same or similar industry segment are often strategic buyers.

Inflation: Blowing Up the Dollar

Nearly 20 years ago, in my reporting days, I remember interviewing a couple of guys who started a business selling prescription medicines for pets over the Internet.

Today, we’d say “ho-hum.”

But in 1998, this company was edgy. As you probably know, animal prescription drugs are as tightly regulated by the FDA, DEA and state authorities as human drugs are. I was intrigued, but I remember the doubtful looks of my newsroom bosses: “Sounds risky,” one said. “They’ll never make it,” said another.

The story died on the vine. But the company did not. It grew and grew. Today, it’s a $400 million company.

What’s my point? Sometimes the biggest chance you can take with your wealth … is taking no chances at all.

Without taking judicious, well-researched “chances” such as:

• Buying stock in rapidly growing companies
• Buying gold
• Buying international real estate