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Exit Readiness Consultation: Prepare your business for a successful sale

A tailored health check for your business – working with business owners looking to maximise value from their business exit

For many business owners, their company represents years of hard work. Yet when the time comes to step away, too few have taken the steps needed to ensure a smooth exit. The reality is some carefully considered steps taken in advance can remove a lot of frustration from the process, facilitate a more efficient process, avoid unexpected costs and help to maximise your sale proceeds.

As specialists in advising owners on the sale of their businesses, we often see issues being identified during due diligence that can cause deals to falter, slow down or even collapse.  The majority of the time, the “issues” that have been identified could have easily been fixed prior to the sale process.  We have therefore decided to launch an exit readiness campaign giving owners the ability to talk to us outside the pressures of a live deal to help identify and resolve some basic issues prior to entering into a formal deal process.

Our bespoke offering to support business owners considering an exit is based on years of experience and provides a practical assessment of your business, covering some basic legal and commercial topics.  We start with a simple checklist that encourages you to think about some key areas of your business.  We will then review the results and offer a  free initial consultation with one of our team to review the results and consider a strategy designed specifically for your business.

Contact us today at contact@clarkslegal.com to register your interest.

Take the first step toward a smoother, more profitable business exit.

FAQs – Exit Readiness

Exiting a business typically means transferring ownership, assets, or shares to a new entity, whether through a sale, merger, management buyout, or other restructuring. The legal and commercial issues that arise will depend on the structure of the deal and the nature of your business.

There are important legal considerations that need to be addressed, such as:

  • Ensuring the business is in a sale-ready state
  • Managing due diligence requests
  • Drafting and negotiating sale agreements
  • Handling employee matters, including potential TUPE implications
  • Managing regulatory compliance and tax efficiency

Our team can guide you through all legal aspects of the process. The typical exit process includes:

  • Preparing for Sale
    Legal health checks and share restructuring if necessary to improve deal value and minimise risk of price negotiation and to spot issues early.
  • Due Diligence Support
    Helping you respond to buyer enquiries, thoroughly, systematically and in a way that protects sellers through the disclosure process.
  • Transaction Structuring
    Advising on whether an asset sale or share sale is more suitable for your goals.  We have considerable experience in both and will liaise with other advisers to ensure that the structure suits you best.
  • Drafting and Negotiating Legal Documents
    Including heads of terms, share purchase agreements, warranties and indemnities, and non-compete clauses.  Getting the heads of terms right at the outset can save considerable time and resources down the line and will often streamline the sale and purchase process.
  • Managing Third Party Consents
    Including regulatory approvals, landlord consent, or customer and supplier contract assignments together with any bank or finance approvals.
  • Employee Transfers
    Advising on obligations under TUPE and assisting with consultation and communications, if applicable.

Disclaimer
This information is for guidance purposes only and should not be regarded as a substitute for taking legal advice. Please refer to the full General Notices on our website.

Author profile

Author profile

Jonathan Hayes

Senior Solicitor

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‪+44 118 960 4611

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