Selling a business to family

Selling Your Business to Family: Navigating the Personal and Professional

Selling your business to a family member can be a rewarding yet complex process. It involves not just a business transaction, but also intricate family dynamics and emotions. This approach to business transfer can ensure continuity and preserve the family legacy, yet it requires careful planning to balance professional objectives with personal relationships.

When selling to a family, it’s crucial to maintain a professional demeanor and ensure that all agreements are transparent and legally sound. It’s not just about handing over the reins; it’s about ensuring that the new owner is competent and prepared to take the business forward. Additionally, this process can come with emotional challenges, as it involves shifting roles within the family and the business.

One must also consider the financial implications. Selling to family often means different financial arrangements than a standard business sale. There’s a delicate balance between providing a fair deal to the family member and ensuring your own financial security post-sale.

Furthermore, it’s important to consider other stakeholders in the business, such as employees, customers, and suppliers. They should be reassured that the business’s values and operations will continue smoothly under new ownership.

Overall, selling your business to a family member is a decision that should be made with careful consideration of both the financial and emotional impacts. Ensuring clear communication, setting realistic expectations, and seeking professional advice are key steps in making this transition as smooth as possible. Selling to family can be an easier way to sell your business than a traditional business sale, if all goes smoothly and to plan, but it can equally end up being much more complicated also due to the dynamics and relationships of those involved.

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Selling Your Business to Family: Navigating the Personal and Professional

3 Reasons to choose Dexterity Partners

1. Supporting and managing the team

We act as partners to you, not standalone advisors. An sale process is often the first time it has been undertaken by both the owners or the individual family member or members taking on the business. It is therefore important that all the processes are clear and simply explained to ensure that both the buyer and seller understand the issues and make the right choices. We act as your sounding board for all issues. It is something that owners greatly value but only realise its importance once the process is in progress.

2. Communication and technical support

We know how valuable and emotional a business can be to those involved. We ensure you are involved at all stages of the decision making whilst we take responsibility for the technical “heavy lifting” necessary to get the deal right for both parties. Whilst we will be acting for you, the Seller we passionately believe in achieving a win- win outcome for both the Buyer and Seller. What is often overlooked by advisors “pitching” to Sellers to win work is that the relationship rarely ends on the signing of the Sale and Purchase agreement, hence our Fit for the Future analysis.

3. Project Management

Our ability to offer an end-to-end service means we can project manage the whole transaction, avoid costly administration often repeated if there are several different advisors.

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How Dexterity Partners can help

We specialise in advising Owner Managers on how to sell their business and ensure a smooth win-win process which is especially important when it comes to selling to family. We are different from all other advisors, accountants and sales brokers because we provide a start to finish service. It is personally managed and not just handed over to a junior colleague once signed up.

We manage all aspects of the sales proposes as follows:

Preparation,( “Fit to Sell”) and Fit for the Future (“F4F”)
Valuation framework
Negotiations
Due Diligence Support
Support to 3Volution’s Legal agreement (Sale and Purchase Agreement).

This is possible due to the unique skills within Dexterity Partners, we have all the skills in house, including qualified accountants and solicitors. Additionally Simon has a doctorate from Warwick Business School designed to show how Owner Managers maximise their business value.

Family Business Succession Planning

Succession planning when selling your business to a family member is a critical step to ensure the longevity and success of the business under new ownership. It involves preparing the next generation to lead, ensuring that they have the necessary skills and knowledge to manage the business effectively. This is rarely a quick process and the sooner you are able to identify that this is the path you want to take as a business owner, the sooner you are able to take the necessary steps to prepare the business, yourself and your successor.

The first step in succession planning is identifying potential successors early and assessing their capabilities and interest in running the business. Once a successor is chosen, a detailed training and development plan should be put in place.

This plan should include working in various roles within the business, understanding the business model, and developing leadership skills. A key element to this is not only making sure the individual understands the entire business, but also that they develop the relationships and professional respect needed from the key employees and management.

Clear communication is key in succession planning. This includes discussing the future vision for the business, expectations, and the timeline for the transition. It’s also important to involve other family members in these discussions to ensure that everyone is aligned and understands their roles and responsibilities.

Another aspect of succession planning is considering the legal and financial structure of the business post-transition. This may involve restructuring the business, setting up trusts, or other mechanisms to protect the business and family interests.

Regularly reviewing and updating the succession plan is also vital, as business and family circumstances can change over time. This ensures that the plan remains relevant and effective.

Effective succession planning not only prepares the next generation to take over the business but also ensures that the legacy and values of the business are preserved. It’s a process that requires time, effort, and often external advice to get right.

How to transfer a business to a family member

Transferring a business to a family member involves several steps that must be carefully navigated to ensure a smooth transition. It begins with determining the readiness of the family member to take over the business. This includes assessing their skills, experience, and commitment to the business’s future.

Once you’ve identified a suitable successor, the next step is to establish a fair market value for the business. This is crucial in setting up a fair financial arrangement. It’s advisable to involve a professional appraiser or business valuator to ensure objectivity in this process. This valuation will form the basis of the financial negotiations and sale agreement. The aim is not to get into a tough, win-lose situation, but to ensure that everyone is open and transparent with the process. To ensure that each party understands the agreement fully, each parties responsibilities and how the sale is going to progress and implications for each party. It is about getting to a win-win situation, where everyone feels the terms are fair and ends up happy with what has been agreed.

Legal considerations are paramount in this process. Drafting a comprehensive sale agreement that outlines the terms, conditions, and expectations is crucial. This agreement should be developed with the help of legal and financial advisors to ensure that all aspects of the sale are covered, including payment terms, transition period, and any ongoing involvement you may have in the business.

Tax implications are another important consideration. Transferring a business to a family member can have various tax consequences for both the seller and the buyer. It’s important to work with a tax advisor to understand these implications and plan accordingly.

Additionally, a transition plan should be developed to ensure a seamless handover. This includes transferring knowledge, introducing the new owner to key stakeholders, and gradually shifting responsibilities.

Ultimately, the transfer process should be transparent and fair, keeping in mind the best interests of the business, the family, and other stakeholders involved.

How to transfer a business to a family member

“ I'm delighted to be joining forces with K3. We pride ourselves on delivering a high-quality service and we can add greater value to our clients through the provision of K3's broad range of advisory services. Businesses are facing unprecedented levels of financial hardship and we are now in an even stronger position to help businesses navigate the current economic storm." Dexterity Partners played a critical role in managing the complete sales process, from negotiation to legal completion. This enabled me to remain focussed on the business whilst having an experienced sounding board who understood all the issues. Dexterity Partners unique approach with a single point contact controlling the whole process, improved the final agreed value and terms of the deal. Michael Chamberlain
Founder and director at Chamberlain & Co.

“ After 30 years of growing my business from a start up, understanding a sale process was different from anything I had previously done. Dexterity Partners with their one point of contact helped guide me through the process and avoid the pitfalls I never knew existed. David
Building Products Manufactruer

“ After working with Dexterity Partners their "Fit to Sell" process highlighted the opportunity to grow my business via a merger with a similar business. They helped me find funding to enable me to gain the benefits of a sale whilst keeping control. Chris
Construction & Home Improvements

“ Our business was severely impacted by COVID and a sale looked like the only option. The "Fit to Sell" review resulted in a new strategy to be designed and refinanced. The "Fit for the Future" review highlighted a greater value if we focused on additional sales growth until a more favourable market environment exists to sell the business. It was pleasing to note that Dexterity Partners were not pushing a sale only but provided us with strategic options. David
UK Retailer

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Contact our team at Dexterity Partners today for assistance with selling your business, let us help you sell your business.