Acquisition & Disposal Planning

When buying or selling a business there are fundamental decisions to take to ensure that you get the most from the deal, whatever you are aiming to achieve.

• What are you buying/selling?
• How are you going to incorporate this into any existing structures?
• How are you going to get out again at the end of the process.

By considering these questions early you can be clear as to where you hope to take both your existing business and any new businesses you acquire. It is vital, particularly in testing times, to maximise the benefits of every transaction and this means getting the structure for the deal right at the outset.

You need to consider if it is better for you to buy/sell shares or the underlying assets as there are differing benefits for each route:

• Will you accept different terms depending on whether the payments are cash or shares and how much will the length of the payment terms affect this decision?
• If you are using earn-outs, how should these be structured; shares, loan notes, deferred cash or a combination of these?

We are experienced in advising both vendors and purchasers on how to balance these items and the subsequent impact on their personal financial position. Focus on the following areas to make the deal work harder for you:

• Sale of assets or shares?
• Immediate or deferred payment?
• Maximising tax relief for goodwill
• Entrepreneur’s relief
• Using any losses available

To discuss the considerations when buying or selling a business please contact Ian Gibbon, Chris Cairns or Dipali Buch