Selling a Business- Who do I use?
Discussion
Looking to sell part of my business and want to know who I can turn to to help market the business and facilitate the sale.
It is not likely to be a big money deal so using big accountants/ corporate finance houses would not be an option
I could try to kick start the sale process myself by contacting potential buyers (I already have identified them- there's only 10-15), but think that getting professionals involved would potentially extract more overall value and would make sure that everything was done right.
From trawling the net, I can find various 'sell your company' brokerage websites but I have no idea if any are any good.
Where should I turn? Should I go the diy route? Anyone got experience of this or good company/ website recommendations?
It is not likely to be a big money deal so using big accountants/ corporate finance houses would not be an option
I could try to kick start the sale process myself by contacting potential buyers (I already have identified them- there's only 10-15), but think that getting professionals involved would potentially extract more overall value and would make sure that everything was done right.
From trawling the net, I can find various 'sell your company' brokerage websites but I have no idea if any are any good.
Where should I turn? Should I go the diy route? Anyone got experience of this or good company/ website recommendations?
As you already know your potential buyers you should approach the 10 to 15 semi directly. Draft a general letter and ask your accountant or solicitor to send the letter using their letter head. Describe the business and then ask that if further info is required then a confidentiality agreement will be required. You can get these from stadandard template sites. Your solictor then sends these out on your behalf. After this you can release details of the business via an info memorandum. This should only cost around £1k.
John P- earnings multiple/ net assets/ discounted cash flows/ comparable transactions- there are loads of way to value a business.
If you take the values that these spew out at face value, then I have a business worth well in excess of £0.5m (which its not!!!).
This business will be worth what someone is willing to pay for it and this should hopefully be based upon how they value the profits that it can add into their business.
I know what I would like to achieve for the business- based upon what the profits are worth to me- and for various reasons I think (hope) that they should be worth more than that to someone else.
If you take the values that these spew out at face value, then I have a business worth well in excess of £0.5m (which its not!!!).
This business will be worth what someone is willing to pay for it and this should hopefully be based upon how they value the profits that it can add into their business.
I know what I would like to achieve for the business- based upon what the profits are worth to me- and for various reasons I think (hope) that they should be worth more than that to someone else.
You might want to try Dalton's weekly. They have a lot of businesses for sale.
We tried to sell a business by using an experienced business consultant. We prepared all sorts of documents for our consultant to approach potential clients with. They looked extremely impressive. In the end it cost us a fortune with no significant results to speak of. We did learn that we should be very wary about employing consultants.
IMHO advertise the type of business you are in and where it is.
Eg Fish and Chip shop in London SE5. Please contact owner for details via a PO Box. (Then the employees won't know).
Any interested party will get in touch. There are a few dreamers out there so you need to give them the bare basics - turnover, rent, wages, etc etc and gross profit.
If they are really interested then they will need to see the accounts. Demonstrate that the business is healthy and capable of sustaining itself when you leave.
In many cases deals fall through because of a lack of financing. You may find it easier to sell if you take a percentage as a deposit and then a repayment monthly for some time. Have a Solicitor draw up the documents in a way that reverts the core assets to you and no liabilities if the business is mismanaged.
>> Edited by GavinPearson on Sunday 21st December 23:08
We tried to sell a business by using an experienced business consultant. We prepared all sorts of documents for our consultant to approach potential clients with. They looked extremely impressive. In the end it cost us a fortune with no significant results to speak of. We did learn that we should be very wary about employing consultants.
IMHO advertise the type of business you are in and where it is.
Eg Fish and Chip shop in London SE5. Please contact owner for details via a PO Box. (Then the employees won't know).
Any interested party will get in touch. There are a few dreamers out there so you need to give them the bare basics - turnover, rent, wages, etc etc and gross profit.
If they are really interested then they will need to see the accounts. Demonstrate that the business is healthy and capable of sustaining itself when you leave.
In many cases deals fall through because of a lack of financing. You may find it easier to sell if you take a percentage as a deposit and then a repayment monthly for some time. Have a Solicitor draw up the documents in a way that reverts the core assets to you and no liabilities if the business is mismanaged.
>> Edited by GavinPearson on Sunday 21st December 23:08
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff