Deciding to sell your business is likely to be one of the most significant projects you ever undertake. We specialize in managing company sale processes from start to finish to ensure your personal and financial objectives are achieved. 

Whether the sale is motivated by retirement, responding to a direct approach, succession management or simply to de-risk and bank value we provide complete support to you through the project. Most of our client’s projects include the five phases below:

1. Shareholder Options Review
2. Preparing for sale
3. Marketing the business
4. Negotiating the deal
5. Executing the deal to completion

Whilst no situation is ever the same, a sale project generally begins with questions such as “who will buy my business?” and “how much is it worth?”.

During the Shareholder Options Review we will provide answers to those questions and set out a plan on when and how a sale can be achieved.

We will invest significant time getting to know your business and ensuring we understand what is special about it and how we can maximize value and certainty of outcome through the sale process. There are many things to consider during the preparation phase such as:

• operational – “do we need to strengthen key customer contracts or the management team?”
• financial – “do we need three or five years of cash flow forecasts?” 
• structuring – “should we consider carving the main property asset out of the sale?”
• process – “would commissioning vendor due diligence help deliver the process objectives?”
• optimising proceeds – “what tax planning initiatives should we consider?”  

We prepare for the sale meticulously to ensure that whether we are marketing your business to trade buyers or financial investors we present a compelling picture, minimising buyers or investors perception of risk and maximising their perception of opportunity.

Whether the shareholders wish to sell 100% of their equity to an international trade buyer who will be prepared to pay a strategic premium in recognition of synergy value, or sell a majority (or minority) stake in a cash-out management buy-out to a private equity investor, we will manage all workstreams with precision and insight.

Our approach then delivers best in class negotiation and execution, actively managing the sale process and maintaining competitive tension through to legal completion.

For more information call +44 7966 319 161 to speak to Mark Wilson