Selling a business
Our Corporate Finance team is here to guide you through the process of selling your business. With expert advice and customised solutions, we help you maximise value and ensure a smooth transition, so you can achieve the best possible outcome for your business sale.
What do we do?
Selling to a Trade Buyer
Expert support in preparing and executing the sale of your business to a trade buyer, ensuring the best possible outcome.
Selling to Management
Guidance on selling your business to the management team through a structured and efficient process.
Selling to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT)
Assistance in transitioning ownership to an Employee Ownership Trust, creating a sustainable future for your business.
What's your business worth?
Reliable business valuations to help you understand the true value of your company and inform your next steps.
Selling to a trade buyer
Selling a business is often a once-in-a-lifetime event, so getting the right advice is essential. Our experienced advisers guide business owners through every stage of the sale process, helping to maximise value and minimise risk.
Our approach includes:
Strategy – Advising on how to achieve your objectives while maximising value.
Preparation – Ensuring your business is in the best possible shape for sale.
Marketing – Creating compelling sales materials to attract buyers.
Buyers – Identifying potential acquirers locally, nationally, and internationally.
Offer selection – Managing offers and helping you choose the best deal.
Closing the deal – Handling due diligence and supporting negotiations through to completion.
Selling to management
A Management Buy-Out (MBO) can be a great exit strategy for business owners, rewarding the management team while preserving the company’s identity and securing staff employment. Our corporate finance team can guide you through the process, including:
Approach – Either management-led (seeking finance) or vendor-led (deal structured by the owner).
Feasibility – Aligning price expectations early to prevent conflicts.
Price & structure – Ensuring valuation and affordability for long-term success.
Funding – Structuring a mix of cash, deferred consideration, equity, and retained shares.
Vendor negotiations – Managing sensitive discussions to avoid conflict.
Transaction management – Overseeing due diligence and completion for a smooth process.
Selling to an Employee Ownership Trust
Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) are an increasingly popular succession option for business owners, providing a tax-efficient way to sell a controlling stake to employees while preserving the business’s independence and culture. Our team can guide both sellers and employees through the EOT process.
Our services include:
Feasibility study – Assessing key aspects such as valuation, structure, funding, employee engagement, and share plan options.
Valuation and structure – Informed company or asset valuation of the target business and structuring advice for informed decision-making.
Funding – Structuring the purchase price using a mix of cash, deferred consideration, retained shares, and potentially external funding.
Tax clearance – Working with tax specialists to secure HMRC clearance and maximise tax benefits.
Employee engagement – Supporting employees and management through the transition, including governance, employee councils, and communication strategies.
What’s your business worth?
Valuation is a critical component in transactions like selling a business, raising equity finance, or acquiring another company. It determines what a willing buyer is prepared to pay and what a seller is willing to accept. Our team can help assess the value for any purpose, with a process that includes:
Adjusted underlying EBITDA – We assess earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation, factoring in historical, current, and future trading conditions to establish a “normal” position.
Multiple – For profitable businesses, a suitable multiple is applied to EBITDA to calculate Enterprise Value. We use industry data to support the valuation.
Cash and debt adjustments – Adjusting the Enterprise Value for cash and debt to calculate the Equity Value, which represents the net value to shareholders.
Valuation report – After thoroughly understanding your business, we provide a comprehensive written report detailing our methodology and assumptions.
Meet our Corporate Finance team
Rod Mathers
Partner
David Cayzer
Director
Gregor Miller
Manager
Conor Adamson
Manager
Robin Denissen-McIntosh
Manager