Indicative offer

An indicative offer (offre indicative) is a non-binding expression of interest submitted by a potential acquirer early in a structured sale process — typically after reviewing the Information Memorandum — indicating a preliminary price range, proposed structure and key conditions. It is non-binding and subject to due diligence confirmation. In a competitive sale process, indicative offers serve two purposes: they allow the seller to shortlist the most credible and attractive buyers for the due diligence phase, and they establish competitive tension that drives price discipline in subsequent binding offer rounds.

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Example: after distributing an Information Memorandum for a Swiss industrial group to 12 qualified buyers, Hectelion receives 7 indicative offers ranging from CHF 19.5 million to CHF 31.0 million enterprise value. The 3 highest offers (CHF 28.0M, CHF 30.5M, CHF 31.0M) are invited to the due diligence phase and data room — creating genuine competitive tension among the shortlisted bidders that drives the final binding offer above the highest indicative level.

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Hectelion analyses and ranks indicative offers across price, structure and execution credibility — selecting the shortlist that maximises competitive tension in the binding offer phase.