For sellers and buyers in Waterford and the south-east the firm has an office at 2 Rose Inn Street in Kilkenny, a short drive away — useful for the conversation this work sometimes needs, which is a business owner, a box of contracts and an afternoon to go through them properly.
The Preparation Year
The most valuable work on a business sale happens twelve to twenty-four months before anyone goes to market, and it is almost never done, because until a buyer appears there is no deadline forcing it. Three items in particular need that lead time rather than a fortnight. Getting key customer and supplier relationships documented, which is straightforward in the ordinary course of business and awkward once a sale is in prospect, since approaching a customer for a signed contract then risks disclosing the sale. Reducing key-person dependency, which is the quietest price reducer in any owner-managed business and cannot be fixed quickly, because it means building the business so it runs without you. And getting assets, IP, domains and premises properly held by the company rather than personally. Each is unglamorous, each defends the price, and each is much harder inside an exclusivity period.
Going Through the File Together
Some parts of this work genuinely suit sitting down with the papers spread out, and the Kilkenny office is straightforward to reach from Waterford, Wexford, Carlow and south Tipperary. Working through the contract file to identify what is written, what is current, what restricts assignment and what carries a change-of-control provision. Reading the lease properly — the remaining term, the assignment provisions, whether anything is in breach. Assembling the schedule of personal guarantees, which is an afternoon’s work and is the item most often discovered years after completion. And going through a warranty schedule line by line during the disclosure exercise, which is the single most valuable use of a seller’s time in the whole transaction, because what you disclose is what you are not liable for. Everything else — structure, drafting, negotiation, consents — is handled remotely without difficulty.
Two Free Tools Before You Call
The Sale Structure Check walks the asset-versus-share question and what follows from each. The Readiness Check produces a gap list ordered by what will delay the deal or reduce the price. Both run on your own device — nothing stored, and neither is tax advice.
Selling, Buying, or Still Deciding?
What is being sold, whether an accountant has advised on structure, what is signed already, and whether there are employees and a lease. Conflicts are checked first, so name every party in your first email.
Call 01 5827148