Company Sale Advice

[marscarsmaggie]

Does anyone know the best way to sell a company?
We are looking to sell a part of our company which although the biggest pain for us to run, is also worth the most money.
Our company is split into an account part and a cash part - we are looking to sell-on the cash part which would mean selling-on some extremely important telephone numbers and the customers/goodwill that go hand-in-hand with them.
Would anybody know the best way of going about this? we had thought about offering it out to tender to select local companies who we thought would be interested.

 

[Rhodes100]

You are not selling your company if you are only selling a part of your assets.

I'm not sure about who might be interested if you tell a potential buyer that you wish to retain a part of the business (and presumably compete against them in the same market)

 

[marscarsmaggie]

Hi Rhodes, the part of the co. that we want to sell is completely different to the part that we want to retain and would be in no competition at all, its a totally different part of the business.
We have thought once the cash part of the co. is sold to close the old co. name and start afresh with a new name as the account part of the business that we wish to retain doesn't have to rely on fancy phone numbers or a catchy name, we would want it to be miles away from the old co.

 

[Rhodes100]

Then firstly I would split the to operations into two separate businesses before you try to sell anything.

 

[agaadha]

if you have to sell your company than you must be aware about all the legal requirements .Check all the profile of the person with whom you are dealing .Follow the guidelines given by the norms of government .

 

[Elemental CoSec]

Hi there

As Rhodes says, you are looking to sell a business rather than a company itself as it sounds like you will retain the company.

In terms of finding a suitable buyer and achieving the best price, this is very much dependent on the nature of the business, the potential buyers out there and the price. A tender process is a possibility as it can add an element of competition, but it is administratively more difficult to run and you have to be confident that you have an attractive business that people will be interested in.

Once you come to sell the business, you will want tax advice on the best way to structure it and detailed legal documentation. The Business Purchase Agreement will need to set out in some detail what assets you are selling and what assets you are retaining. You then potentially other issues, such as TUPE (transfer of employees), the splitting of any pension rights, any regulatory permissions etc though this all depends on exactly what assets are being transferred.

I hope that helps.

Nick