What You Need to Know about Buying & Selling a Business

In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner and Accredited Property Law Specialist Simon Bennett talks about the complex nature of buying and selling businesses.

Transcript

Hi there, Simon Bennett from OMB Solicitors. Today, I'd like to talk to you about buying and selling businesses, quite often, a very complicated transaction with each business being different and having different characteristics that are really important to contract around.

I see there's three main types of document which we use to buy and sell businesses. One is just a straightforward business contract whereby we sell and purchase the business and all of the parts of the business that are necessary to carry on that enterprise.

In these type of circumstances, the contract document is really important, as is the due diligence and making sure that we're transferring across at the sale all of those items necessary to continue to run that business.

Things like intellectual property, business names, transfer of leases, staffing, suppliers and contractors are some of the really important things. There may also be specific licenses depending on the type of business.

The second type of transaction that we see is more a cherry-picking style of purchase, where we do an asset sale and purchase agreement. This allows a buyer to, as I said, cherry-pick the exact assets that it would like to buy without necessarily having to take on the entire enterprise.

The third type of agreement that we generally see is a more complicated share, purchase, and sale agreement whereby you may sell the entity which owns the business, let's call it a company, and that entire company is sold to the buyer who will then continue on with the operations of that entity.

Now, there's some complicating factors with this type of transaction, but there's also some substantial benefits to both the buyer and the seller. It allows the business to continue, hopefully in a seamless manner, under the same entity.

With this in mind, give us a call at OMB Solicitors, and let us help you with your purchase or your sale of your business.