New book for Canadian private-company owners

How to Exit Your Canadian Business

Selling, Transferring and Passing On a Private Company.

Cover of How to Exit Your Canadian Business by Calvin Zhou

By Calvin Zhou, Ph.D., CPA

Enterprise value is not what the owner actually keeps.

Between a headline price and durable personal wealth sit debt, working capital, tax, escrow, earnouts, vendor financing, rollover equity and retained risk. This owner-side guide explains the decisions behind selling, transferring, recapitalizing or passing on a Canadian private company.

Kindle edition: CAD $12.99 ยท Included with Kindle Unlimited.

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Also available in paperback. The book is educational and not a substitute for transaction-specific legal, tax, valuation or investment advice.

The Exit Conversion Framework

Follow value from the company to the owner.

What is moving?

Distinguish assets, shares, control and family wealth. Compare asset and share sales, recapitalizations and succession routes.

Who is on the other side?

Understand how strategic buyers, private equity, search funds, management, employees and family successors change the deal.

What does the owner keep?

Model debt, normal working capital, tax, escrow, earnouts, vendor take-back financing, rollover equity and timing.

Exit readiness

A better exit begins before the transaction.

Reliable financials, defensible normalized earnings, qualified shares, clean working capital, transferable operations and a realistic transition plan require lead time. The book turns those issues into an owner decision sequence.

  • Bridge enterprise value to equity value and cash at closing.
  • Compare QSBC and LCGE planning with deal certainty.
  • Test earnouts, vendor financing and rollover equity.
  • Plan for family succession, estate freezes and equalization.
  • Reduce founder dependency before a buyer prices it.

Apply the framework

Move from reading to transaction preparation.

How much is the business worth?

Understand maintainable earnings, risk, growth and buyer expectations.

Review the value drivers

Prepare for the process

Connect earnings, working capital, tax, financing and deal terms.

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