Business Evolution

When buying or selling a business, it is important to know exactly what’s part of the deal. We can help ensure you settle on the right value and ensure the continuity continues. Talk to our experts, look at all the Pros and Cons and make an informed decision that’s right for you.

Are you selling a business property, transferring a lease or leasing a building back to a new business owner? We can help to buy and sell business premises, business leases or transferring leases. Chat to our Business and Commercial property experts and we’ll happily guide you along the right path.

It’s important to take care when buying or selling any business assets. The buyer will be asking questions, reviewing all the documents and trying to make sure they know what they are getting. Getting expert legal help with this area can speed up the process. If the buyer and seller are made aware of any issues, it can also prevent unpleasant litigation arising in future.

This legal document is a good idea to make it clear what is being bought and sold, how much will be paid and how it will be paid, amongst other things. Whether you are buying or selling, we can help you to draft a sensible agreement.

A Warranty typically outlines the promises made by the seller about the condition of a business before it is sold. If the promises turn out to be wrong, there is a potential risk for you. We can devise well-drafted warranties to protect the interest of all parties.

Whether you are buying or selling a business, we can ensure all the employment documents are in order with an employment audit and health check. We can help check and update employment contracts, issues staff handbooks or help with redundancy settlements and any other HR issues.

Before buying or selling a business, we recommend checking that everything is on a firm footing and ensuring all the business documents are up to date and fit for purpose. If required, we can help you change or replace business documents, T&C’s, Shareholder Agreements, Supplier Agreements, Service Level Contracts and more.

When it comes to practical arrangements, it’s important for the buyer and seller to know all about the business. If the seller is to stay in the business for a while to help with the hand over, it might be wise to think about a Consultancy Agreement to handle the sharing of information, especially if restrictions will be in place when the takeover is complete.

If you need help to raise financial support, we can discuss the best way for this to be delivered. We have a wealth of experience, together with a network of contacts that can put you in contact with various banks, lenders, loan funding, grant funding and private equity firms, if required.

Are you are buying or selling a business in the most tax efficient manner? Talk to our experts and get advice tailored to you because these things are often best considered before the process begins, as they may have a bearing on how you structure the deal.

It’s important to know who owns a business and what proportions to provide complete clarity for anyone involved in running the business. With a Shareholders Agreement in place, you can clear up any confusion and prevent future disputes arising.

If you want to trade on your terms rather than be bound by someone else’s terms, we can draw up T&C’ to protect your business, strengthen your position, save you money and add value. A good set of Terms & Conditions gives both you and your customers (or suppliers) 100% clarity and can help avoid awkward situations from cropping up.

The easiest way to deal with a dispute is to sort it out before it becomes a dispute. The longer a dispute goes on, the more personal, stressful, distracting and expensive it can become. With our Disputes and Litigation team on your side, it’s easy to chat through any problems and explore ways to resolve the issue. If it can’t be resolved, you’ll have a strong and experienced team fighting your case.

What is your exit strategy? Do you have one? Do you even need one? Do you have staff you want to sell the business to? Or do you want to keep it in the family? Can you start transferring some of your shares now to minimise future tax liability? It’s always sensible to have one eye on the future. If you want to discuss any aspect of succession planning, our commercial team is happy to talk through all the options and help you put the right processes in place.

Limited Companies, Partnerships, Sole Traders or Limited Liability – we help them all! Talk to us about the Pros and Cons of each option so you can make an informed decision about which structure is right for you. Once you have decided what entity your new business will be, we can help you to set it up, step by step, making the process easy.

It is crucial to have some “rules” from the outset which govern the internal relationship of the stakeholders and key people in a business. Without these rules, the chances of conflict can increase. This is not good for a business or its stakeholders. Our expert business team can talk through and prepare the right Business Agreement, Partnership Agreement or Shareholders’ Agreement, providing all of the key legal documents you will need.

Should the need arise, we can help with Franchise Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), Agency Agreements and Distribution Agreements. Whatever business documents you need, we’ll be happy to offer advice and draft them for you.

If you want to plan where you’ll be in the next six months, 12 months or 5 years, we have extensive experience in assisting with and preparing business plans. We work across many business sectors, from start-ups to multi-million-pound businesses.