The Company: Sunbelt Business Brokers, Greater Bay Area

Joan Young, President of Sunbelt Business Brokers, Greater Bay Area, has been helping buyers and sellers since 1980. With franchising as Joan’s major focus at the time, it was a natural expansion to add business brokerage for her clients.

In 2000 Joan had the opportunity to start Sunbelt Business Brokerage in Santa Clara County. Since Joan had been working with and sharing office space with a leading Mergers and Acquisition company for nine years, she knew the industry well and liked the idea of having the association with a very strong business brokerage name. Sunbelt Business Brokers, Greater Bay Area serves Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County, San Mateo County, So. Alameda County and beyond.

Since opening the first office in 2000, Sunbelt Business Brokers, Greater Bay Area has grown with highly competent business brokers. Young has her office at 999 W Taylor Street in San Jose near the The Alameda. Sunbelt services all of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area for qualified sellers in manufacturing, wholesale distribution, food, the health care industry and business and personal services.

Company History

In the Beginning

Sunbelt began operations in 1978 in Charleston, SC. Sunbelt prospered as a single office operation until 1991 when Ed Pendarvis, Sunbelt’s founder, formed a partnership with an individual to open an office in Greenville, SC. The partnership method was used to open additional offices in Charlotte, NC; Columbia, SC; and Spartanburg, SC. In each case, Sunbelt was the largest business brokerage firm in each market within a few months of opening.

The Birth of a Franchise

In May, 1993, the License Offering Circular was approved, and the existing offices, with the exception of Charleston, were converted to franchises. In November, 1993, the Sunbelt Business Brokers trademark was granted by the United States Patent and Trademark office, and franchising began in earnest.

Industry Recognition

Since becoming a franchised operation, Sunbelt has been consistently honored as the highest ranking business brokerage franchise in the United States in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Franchise 500” issues.

Where We Are Today

Sunbelt has grown at a dramatic pace, with hundreds of franchise offices around the world. During the past several years, our network of offices has spread through Canada and expanded into the UK, China, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia with many more openings to come. On February 1, 2006, Sunbelt was acquired (via the sale of its assets) by MMI Business Brokers, LLC (MMIBB). MMIBB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Merrymeeting Inc., a company that specializes in acquiring and developing franchise systems. MMIBB exclusively does business under the name of Sunbelt Business Advisors Network and is herein referred to as Sunbelt. Sunbelt focuses its operating activities on selling Sunbelt franchises and providing services to Sunbelt’s franchisees. All brokerage and other services provided to business buyers and sellers are provided by independently owned and operated franchisees of Sunbelt.

Sunbelt is the world’s largest network of business broker offices. The Sunbelt network has hundreds of offices worldwide.