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For wealth managers & private bankers

Your client's biggest asset isn't in the portfolio.

For most of your business-owner clients, the largest asset on their balance sheet is a company you don't manage and can't easily see into. Fulkrem builds the value of that business in the years before the liquidity event, so the plan you build around it actually holds.

The size of the moment

A generation of owners is heading for the exit.

Most of them carry the bulk of their wealth in one illiquid, undiversified asset, and few have a plan for it.

76%

of Canadian small business owners plan to exit within ten years
CFIB, 2023

$2T+

in Canadian business assets could change hands in that decade
CFIB, 2023

80–90%

of owners have their financial wealth locked up in their companies
Exit Planning Institute, via CNBC

9%

have a formal, written succession plan
CFIB, 2023

The value gap

Same profit. A very different retirement.

The value gap is the difference between what a business is worth today and what it would be worth running at its best. For many owners, the sale is the retirement plan, which makes the business's value a planning assumption, and usually an untested one.

BDC describes a full business transition as taking three to five years. An advisor who joins at the closing table can help invest the proceeds. An advisor who joins five years earlier can help shape how large they are, and how much of them the client keeps.

Important: Fulkrem is not an investment or financial advisor and does not provide wealth, tax or legal advice. We build the business; you manage the wealth.

Three ways to close the gap

  • → Grow the profit. Important, but slow, and every buyer discounts profit they don't believe will last.
  • → Raise the multiple. Reduce the risk a buyer sees: owner dependence, weak numbers, thin management. Often the faster lever, and where Fulkrem focuses.
  • → Plan the number. Know the real after-tax number, structure early and plan the proceeds. This is where you lead.

What makes a business bankable, and sellable

  • → Predictable cash flow that covers the buyer's debt (DSCR)
  • → Clean, documented financials that survive diligence
  • → Low customer concentration and healthy working capital
  • → Management depth, so value doesn't leave with the founder
  • → Reduced key-person risk and clear operating systems
Where we fit

You know their money. We know their business.

The business sale is usually the largest inflow your client will ever have. But it only happens if a buyer can finance it. Fulkrem puts a coordinated team of fractional leaders (finance, operations, people, revenue) inside the business to build exactly what lenders and buyers look for.

You keep the relationship and the plan. We build the asset, report progress in plain language, and stay firmly in our lane.

Cover of Close the Value Gap, a Fulkrem guide for wealth managers
Free guide for advisors

Close the Value Gap.

A 14-page guide for wealth managers and private bankers who serve business owners: why the business is the centre of the plan, what you can see from your seat, the road to a liquidity event, and conversation starters for your owner clients. Every figure is sourced.

Get the free guide
A conversation starter

Send your owner clients the Mini Freedom Score.

Eight questions, about two minutes, and a score out of 100 on the same scale Fulkrem uses in its full assessment. It's an easy, no-pressure way to open the conversation about the business, and the results give you both something concrete to talk about.

Try the Mini Freedom Score ↗

Want a link tagged to your firm? Ask us.

Let's build value together.

Have an owner client who isn't exit-ready, or want to explore a referral partnership? Let's talk.

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