Did my dad scare off a buyer?

Background: My dad started an industrial design and repair company about 40 years ago. He now has two buildings, lots of equipment and 30+ employees. The business is doing better than ever but it takes a toll on my dad. He’s a workaholic and his involvement in it is also hard on my mom.

That being said he was recently approached by a company who deals more in parts sales for the same industry who expressed interest in acquiring the business. This is a much larger and reputable company who does lots of acquisitions all in the same industry. Something to note is that this company needs a repair hub in the area, so this is a strategic benefit for them. Well for several weeks they contacted my dad very frequently. However throughout the process my dad made it known that while he would see what they had to offer, he wasn’t really looking to sell. This never seemed to phase the people, so dad eventually sent them the 3 years of tax documentation after signing an NDA. The tax documentation verified the earnings that my dad told them in early talks so there shouldn’t be any surprises there. The company had grown 25% every year over the last 5 years so things look really good on paper.

So now it has been 2 weeks and except for the immediate “thanks for sending this” email, there has been no communication. My dad is wondering if they are waiting him out to see if he’s actually not all that interested. My mom (who wants him to sell) is afraid he scared them off. I’m thinking that it takes more than 2 weeks to compile a legitimate offer but admittedly I don’t know anything about it. The larger company is employee owned (ESOP) so I’m thinking there could be a board that has to approve things.

What do you think? Is 2 weeks a reasonable amount of time to compile an offer? I would have expected some level of communication.