… Plan for Maximum Benefit
Selling a business in the current climate is difficult but with careful planning and good advice you can maximise your position and achieve the best possible deal. Umberto Vietri, our Company/ Commercial Partner has prepared a series of articles to advise on how to best approach a sale of a business to ensure that the maximum potential is achieved. In this article we look at when the time is right to sell and how and when to start preparing for a sale.
Selling at the right time can have a significant impact on the price and deal that you achieve. If possible don’t make a last minute decision and don’t be forced into a sale. Try and plan ahead and decide when you want to sell. In this way you give yourself sufficient time to groom the business into a shape which will be most attractive for a potential buyer. Consider the marketplace with particular emphasis on your sector.
Planning a sale well in advance is probably one of the most important aspects to achieving the maximum price for your business and ensuring that a sale goes through with minimal complications. Grooming the business for sale may include tidying up contractual documentation, ensuring that employee documentation is up to date and effective, establishing the ownership of assets and intellectual property, dealing with outstanding litigation and considering the tax implications of sale. Streamlining and preparing your business for sale is essential and should not be neglected.
Please feel free to contact Umberto if you wish to discuss any aspects of a sale in more detail. In our next article we will look at how businesses are valued and how to choose an adviser.
Umberto Vietri
Company & Commercial Partner
