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Sell Side

Definition

In M&A, the sell side refers to the party representing the owner or company being sold. Sell-side advisory — the core service of most boutique investment banks — involves preparing the business for sale, creating marketing materials (teasers, CIMs), running the sale process, and negotiating terms on behalf of the seller.

Context

VRA Partners is primarily a sell-side advisory firm, as described by Chris Reilly in Ep. 23. The sell-side banker controls which buyers get included in processes, making relationship-building with sell-side bankers critical for buy-side PE firms. Sell-side bankers track buyer behavior — bid consistency, process conduct, CIM attentiveness — and use this data to decide who earns access to narrow processes and fireside chats.

In Ep. 1, Karl Rectanus describes the sell-side selection process from a founder's perspective. Before engaging buyers, LearnPlatform ran a "bake-off with about a half a dozen different banks and advisors" and selected Needham & Company to lead the process. Karl valued bankers who "understood the market, understood our needs, and understood what we were trying to do in identifying a partner" — prioritizing sector expertise and mission alignment over bank size.