SUNBELT is the worlds’ largest network of business broker offices. The SUNBELT network has hundreds of offices worldwide.

Core Values
Core Values reflect our organization's cultural values and govern our day-to-day decisions and behavior. We expect our employees and franchisees to adhere to these Core Values.

Integrity – We revere honesty and forthrightness. We adhere to the highest ethical standards, provide timely, accurate and complete financial reporting, encourage prompt disclosure of bad news and welcome disagreement.

Golden Rule – We respect others and treat them in the way that we want to be treated.

Objectives – We clearly state and share our objectives with our employees, franchisees, shareholders and others. We measure our performance against these objectives and react to new information, changes and opportunities by adjusting our business processes to achieve and surpass our objectives.

Excellence – We are committed to continuously improving our performance in order to meet and exceed the expectations of our franchisees, customers and investors/owners. We reward our people for improving service quality and reducing costs.

Profit – Earning a profit rewards our investors/owners and enables us to attract necessary capital for further investment in our people and operating processes.

SUNBELT BUSINESS BROKERS AUSTRALIA specializes in the sale of all types of businesses both big and small, including those which have a freehold component.

We provide a complete service starting from an estimate of your businesses’ likely selling price, based on current market trends and similar sales, through to the presentation of your business and property to the market, advice on marketing and advertising, site visits with prospective buyers and the eventual successful sale.

We work closely with solicitors and accountants to ensure that the whole process is painless for you.

For a Vendor, our large database of qualified prospective buyers means that we can start working with you immediately to ensure a smooth and successful sales process.

For a Purchaser, you can rely on our knowledge and contacts to align you with the business that you want.

We have proven sales success and are keen to speak with you, whether you are contemplating buying or selling a business or are ready to go and would like us to assist.

Management

Edward T. Pendarvis, CBI - Founder and Chairman Emeritus
Mr. Pendarvis is founder and Chairman Emeritus of SUNBELT. He is a graduate of The Citadel, in Charleston, S.C. Mr. Pendarvis had a successful career in real estate sales and development before joining SUNBELT. Associated with SUNBELT since 1983, he has participated in or managed the sale of over 1,000 businesses. He has been a guest instructor in business brokerage for the Texas Association of Business Brokers, the Florida Association of Business Brokers, the California Association of Business Brokers and the International Business Brokers Association. Mr. Pendarvis is also a Real Estate Broker, a member of the South Carolina Better Business Bureau Board of Directors and serves as member of the IBBA Board of Directors. Ed also serves as a member of the Citadel School of Business Administration Advisory Board.

John M. Davies - Chief Executive
Mr. Davies started his career with Coopers & Lybrand, an international accounting and consulting services firm. He subsequently joined the Progressive Corporation and was the President and General Manager of Progressive's Diversified Business Group, a specialty underwriting and insurance services operation. John left Progressive to become the CEO of Netrex, LLC, a New York based private equity investment firm specializing in buying and developing insurance and auto related businesses.
In 2001, Mr. Davies and Patrick Enthoven, his long time friend and business partner, founded Merrymeeting, Inc. Merrymeeting has subsequently focused on acquiring and developing franchise systems and related service companies.

Mr. Davies earned a BS in Economics from the University of Kentucky and his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds the following professional certifications: Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC). Mr. Davies is also a licensed insurance broker.

Mr. Davies enjoys spending his time golfing, competing in marathons and travelling with his family. He and his wife, Allyn, have been married for 24 years and have two children.

Jeff Harcourt - Chief of Operations
From 1990 to 1999, Mr. Harcourt served as Controller of The Progressive Corporation's Diversified Business Group in Cleveland, Ohio. Between 1999 and 2001, Mr. Harcourt was Chief Financial Officer of NETREX Holdings, LLC, and was part of Merrymeeting, Inc.'s founding management team in 2001.
Mr. Harcourt graduated from Miami University (Oxford, OH) with a BS degree in Accounting, and in addition to being a certified public accountant, holds the following designations: Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter, Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Information Systems Auditor.

In his spare time, Mr. Harcourt enjoys spending time with his family, coaching youth athletics and sailing his boat named "For Evan's Sake".

Matt Ottaway - Brand Manager
Mr. Ottaway graduated from Georgetown University in 1996 with a B.A. in Classical Languages. He began his career as a Latin teacher at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Md., where he taught both Introductory Latin Grammar and an Advanced Placement course dedicated to reading Virgil's Aeneid. In 1999 he moved to Cleveland to pursue an MBA at The Weatherhead School of Management. After graduating with a concentration in finance, Mr. Ottaway joined Fifth Third Bank in 2001 as a commercial officer in the bank's Middle Market lending group where he managed the banking needs of Northeast Ohio companies with sales in the $10MM-$150MM range. He also spent time in the bank's International Corporate Banking group working with foreign-owned subsidiaries in Northeast Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and Western New York.
Mr. Ottaway spends his leisure time traveling with his wife, Tiffany, and two children, running, and playing golf and tennis.

Brett Bowden - Master Franchisee Australia
Brett owns the master franchise for Sunbelt in Australia and New Zealand and has been an active business brokers since 1987. A member of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, a member of the Australian Institute of Business Brokers and the International Business Brokers Association, Brett's own office for day to day brokerage is in Melbourne as is the headquarters of Sunbelt in Australia.

Sunbelt Australia is actively promoting its' franchise opportunities and has already sold three territories in South Australia with strong enquiries from new South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.

For leisure time, Brett races a car in the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport National Saloon Car Championship and is also involved in competitive yacht racing.

In the Beginning

SUNBELT Business Advisors, LLC 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 franchise, 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, Scandanavia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia with many more openings to come. On February 1, 2006, SUNBELT was acquired (via the sale of it's 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 it's 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.