To ensure your sale goes successfully, it's important to plan ahead.
Following these tips will help you to prepare your business to ensure that the process goes smoothly.
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Don’t wait until it is too late
Try to think about instigating the whole sale process three to five years before you wish to exit. Giving yourself enough time allows you and your advisers to plan and get the business in a position where the sales process will be as smooth as possible
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Get the right team in place
Put a team of lawyers/accountants/corporate finance specialists together that you have taken time to research and meet. Make sure that the team you put together can work well together. If you have one member of the team already ask them who else they would recommend.
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Get your house in order
Any buyer will carry out due diligence on your business, so before you put your business on the market carry out due diligence yourself, as if you were the buyer. This will flush out any “skeletons” and can make sure that any items that may cause an issue can be sorted out before the buyer starts their due diligence. If it cannot be sorted out, then it gives you time to prepare how any issue is going to be presented to the buyer.
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Agree an internal team
Once the sale process kicks off it can be all consuming, constant enquiries and further enquiries that require documentation to back up the answers. Agree one or two people in your team whose sole responsibility is to work on the enquiries and make sure the rest of the team keep their eye on the ball running the business. Remember the business is yours until the moment you sign the legal documentation selling it, so keep the business running as usual.
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Confidentiality
Keep the number of people who know about the potential sale to a minimum. Employees can get very nervous and start looking for alternative jobs if rumours of a sale start to swirl. Be careful where you talk about the sale, remember even your children may mention a sale is happening if they hear it being discussed at home. Also, be careful when finding documents to back up due diligence enquiries, it may be that you have to go to the office at night to find the documentation so that suspicions are not raised.
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Prepare for life after the sale
Whilst it would be very unusual for a buyer to allow you to walk away from the business on day one, things in the business will undoubtedly change. There will be a new owner and a new management structure and you may find this very hard. Be prepared by looking to the future.
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Look to the future
Talk to your family about things that you want to do post sale. Plan ahead. Post-sale, if you feel you would like to continue in a role, talk to your advisers about other businesses who may want to use your knowledge and experience in their business. There is always call for experienced business minds as non-executive directors. Embrace the possibilities!
If you are thinking about selling your business, and would like to talk with one of our experienced lawyers, please contact a member of our Corporate Team.
