We recognise that coming to a decision to sell your business will probably amount to one of the most significant decisions that you will ever make, personally or commercially.
The sale process can become complex, will be all consuming and is likely to prove emotionally challenging. It helps to be prepared.
Whatever your reasons for considering a sale, by putting an experienced, specialist team behind you to advise and support you through each stage of the process, you will be empowered to achieve the future you have already started to plan for.
Why Sell?
Business owners reach their decision to sell for all sorts of reasons – perhaps you are:
- Planning to retire;
- Considering a sale to a larger corporation to help fuel, or support, further corporate development through greater investment opportunities;
- Seeking to transition ownership to your existing management team (through a Management Buy Out) or through a sale to your entire team of employees (using an Employee Ownership Trust);
- Simply seeking to realise capital to invest in other projects and /or to de-risk
What Are The Challenges?
The sale of a business is rarely straight forward – there is so much to consider and communicate to the prospective buyer, such as:
- The sales and marketing strategy.
- Existing, and potential future, routes to market.
- Customer loyalty, demographics and diversity.
- Supply chain stability, opportunity and development.
- Personnel resourcing and identification of key management.
- Tenure of property assets.
How Do We Help You?
- By guiding you through the sales process, ensuring confidentiality at every step.
- Appraising you of market valuations and conditions.
- Identifying and preparing for the challenges and risks to be overcome prior to commencing the process.
- By researching potential acquirers.
- By doing the heavy lifting, whilst keeping you informed of developments.
- By communicating with all parties to the transaction, from the commencement of the process to completion and beyond where there are post buy out conditions to be met by either party.
The Sales Process
There are three key stages in the sale of a business.
Barrons Corporate Finance will guide you through each step.
Our Preparations For The Sale Process
- Understand your objectives.
- Provide valuation estimation through conducting initial market research.
- Agreeing a valuation range with you
- Prepare sale focussed literature, and supporting agreements.
- Select, agree and approach the prospective buyers list.
- Provision of additional information requested to by buyers to formulate an offer
Support Of Due Diligence & Deal Progression
- Prepare a shortlist and assess ranking of bids received.
- Meet with management of interested parties to ascertain their priorities and focal points.
- Assist in the selection of the preferred offer.
- Draft and agree Heads of Terms for approval by both the sale and buy side.
- Introduce a panel of experienced, specialist M&A solicitors, ultimately working with you to the provision of instructions to your preferred solicitors.
- Oversee and support due diligence reviews undertaken by the Buyer, through the course of which the Buyer is provided with sensitive and confidential information, to include organising an online, secure Data Room for data access by the Buyer remotely.
- Continued negotiation and oversight to resolve enquiries resultant from the due diligence process.
- Prepare calculations to support, and ultimately, finalise working capital and balance sheet negotiations.
Deal Completion
- Support the finalisation of the legal documents encompassing
- Share / asset purchase agreement, commenting and advising upon warranties and indemnities proposed by the Buyer.
- Disclosure letters.
- Service agreements.
- Loan Notes / Vendor Loan Notes.
- At Completion
- Validate funds received are as anticipated.
- Post Completion
- Support ensuring any post deal requirements are met (both sides).
- Validate funds received in respect of deferred consideration are as anticipated.
