General

The sellers and buyers themselves are the principals in the sale, and business brokers (and the principal broker's agents) are their agents as defined in the law. However, although a business broker commonly fills out the offer to purchase form, agents are typically not given power of attorney to sign the offer to purchase or the closing documents; the principals sign these documents. The respective business brokers may include their brokerages on the contract as the agents for each principal.

The use of a business broker is not a requirement for the sale or conveyance of a business or for obtaining a Small business or SBA loan from a lender. However, once a broker is used, A special escrow attorney sometimes called a settlement attorney (or party handling closing) will ensure that all parties involved be paid. Lenders typically have Special requirements for a business related or SBA loan.

The market served by business brokers generally involves the sale of businesses with transaction values less than $10 M. Larger privately held companies are classified in the Middle Market and will employ firms that specialize in Mergers and Acquisitions, or M&A. However, business brokers do participate in mergers and acquisitions activities when it involves a transaction between two or more smaller companies. Business Brokers and M&A firms do overlap activities in the extremes of their market. These extremes are called the Transitional Market, or TransMarket.