Following the completion of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements prepared by AST, our services include characterization of the business from an "owner desires" perspective, preparation of briefing documents from owner materials, presentation to sellers/buyers, issue analysis between the parties, and negotiations and closure assistance. The owner will be encouraged to utilize their own in-house staff or obtain third party assistance for formal due diligence, accounting and legal advice (if a buyer), though AST will provide recommendations in all cases if requested.

AST's fee for M&A work varies depending on the type and size of transaction. Regarding type of transaction, AST's fee depends on whether a "buyer" firm seeks our assistance in identification of candidates or simply is open to presentation of candidate firms as they are identified through AST's own market intelligence.

When AST applies the firm's desired criteria to a market search for candidate firms, an affordable retainer is applied against a Lehman formula schedule. When the firm is approaching the M&A process opportunistically and agrees to examine firms presented as candidates, AST will use a one-time retainer payment to characterize the buyer desires and begin its work, then charges a threshold-based fee when an agreement-in-principle is reached between the firms. Firms wishing to be sold or merged are similarly charged a one-time retainer, and then agree to share in the cost of a final Lehman-based transaction fee.