Preparation for selling a business will obviously need to take into account four considerations, namely
- Needs for the seller: generally the need for a quicker sale will reduce competitive tension, especially if that need is known to or suspected by potential buyers.
- Market conditions: timing can be influenced to take advantage of market buoyancy or to avoid flatter market conditions or even to optimise trading seasonality.
- Opportunities: as with any commercial prospect, the ability to act opportunistically can be critical to take advantage of specific buyer(s) needs.
- Tax considerations: the recent oscillations in the tax regime have reduced certainty about the availability of tax reliefs, driving transactions seeking to preempt changes in the tax legislation.
- State of the business:iIn addition to avoiding common due diligence pitfalls there is a risk of leaving money on the table by not preparing the business for maximise value creation (see our article on value creation here). We’ve worked on significant transformations that were expected to take up to two years, but after one year had made enough progress to take advantage of an opportunistic and preemptive offer.
Ultimately your adviser should be able to help you to make the most of your given circumstances, rather than merely being driven by circumstance and happenstance. For example, we have helped clients by accelerating succession planning, reinvigorating growth and strategic clarity, overcoming employee challenges, providing additional support for finance teams, resolving IT under performance or addressing common legal pitfalls. Drawing on our experiences of scaling businesses and turning around under performing businesses, we have a lot of different experiences to draw on from advisory, executive and non-executive roles.
HOW WE CAN HELP: We support clients with an integrated, flexible and structured approach, applying both commercial experience and professional expertise. Our recent transactions have included exits, acquisitions and fundraising, with journeys from seed via private equity to assisting publicly listed companies. If you want to know more about how we can help you, get in touch for a free and confidential consultation on hello@linkstoneadvisory.com
