So, You’re Selling your Business!

There are many reasons for deciding it’s time to hit the road, sell your business, retire or do something else, and it doesn’t much matter what your reason is.

As a seller, you have just two overriding goals:

1. to get the best price possible at the closing of the deal (or a very short time after that); and
2. to get free and clear of any liabilities and risks after closing.

If your business (net assets or shares) are worth $1,000,000 or more, the buyer will undoubtedly use a specialized M&A law firm and a top CPA firm, and you’ll be put thru the proverbial wringer in legal and financial due diligence, holdbacks, earnouts, claw backs and closing conditions.

So, how do you start the process of selling? How do you select a lawyer? Do you need a tax accountant? A broker? Do you need an NDA? LOI? Who does what to whom, when and why (the W5 of deals)?

It’s valuable to know where the buyer is coming from, when to compromise and when to just say “No”.

You’ll need expert, experienced legal counsel with good practical judgment to guide you in the M&A process (often, a blood sport) and to protect your interests. Do you want to entrust that to a legal dabbler? You get one chance at this.

Selling your business will be an emotional process, so you also need a small team that you respect and trust: a financial and tax advisor and your lawyer. The team must work well together towards the same goal, to close the deal.

We regularly stand toe to toe with mega international law firms and their aggressive, powerful purchaser clients. We’ll steer you in the right direction, help you to make sensible risk assessments and get the job done without looking for expensive arguments. We solve problems, we don’t create or exaggerate them.