Buying and Selling Businesses
BRM’s Head of Corporate Sarah Rowland shares legal considerations when buying or selling a business
When you’re looking to buy or sell a business, you need to ensure that you’re ticking all the right legal boxes. BRM Executive Director and Head of Corporate Sarah Rowland shares advice around areas to consider when buying or selling a business.
Buying and selling businesses can feel stressful as there are so many areas to consider and it’s important to ensure that the contracts you’re entering are legally sound.
We often find that many business people prefer to opt to buy an established business, rather than start from scratch.
Benefits of buying an established business
An existing business may already own premises and commercial property and already be fully staffed, along with having a customer/client base, an established business plan, full company infrastructure and IT systems. This means that much of the work involved in starting a business has already been done for you.
It may be less onerous to obtain funding for an existing business, depending on the type of business being acquired and how established it is.
Understandably, it’s common for established businesses to purchase other businesses or companies to expand, eliminate the competition, obtain their clients or for a host of other reasons.
Find the perfect acquisition opportunities
These days business owners looking for a buyer for their business will advertise online on business websites, commercial property agent websites or even popular auction sites.
Business opportunities for sale are also still advertised in newspapers and magazines, as well as in papers specialising in advertising businesses.
Another route is to approach business brokers, who will be able to put you in touch with people selling a business.
I would also say don’t forget to make use of your own business contacts and make them aware that you are looking at buying a business as they may know of potential business opportunities for sale. Commercial banking contacts can be useful as well.
The early process of buying a business
When you’ve found a business you want to buy, it’s important that you get first-rate financial advice on whether that business is worth the expense. For this, we would advise that your accountant should be your first port of call.
You will also need legal support. At BRM, we have vast experience in the legal process of buying businesses, be it a small local shop or a multi-million-pound organisation and our team of business solicitors can advise you at every stage. Contact our Corporate team today on 01246 564039 or e-mail Sarah on sarah.rowland@brmlaw.co.uk.
