EXIT STRATEGY PLANNING (ESP)
Do you need to plan your exit?
Every private business owner will, at some stage, exit his or her business. This is an unfortunate fact of business life!
If no preparation or planning has been made for exit, the business may be in an unsuitable condition for transfer or sale when the day comes. Also, the successor (or management) may be unfit, inexperienced or unable to take over the business. Furthermore, without proper planning, the untimely death or illness of a major shareholder (or partner) could lead to a major disruption within the business, or cause the hoped for sale of the business to be aborted. Without preparation, a sale is often a fire sale.
So, do you need to plan for your exit?
What we recommend
We recommend that, ideally, you should plan your exit over a three to five year period. This will allow adequate time to place the business in an optimum position for disposal. We recommend that you should also consider drawing up an integrated financial plan, that takes account of both personal and business needs and considers all aspects of tax planning, so that you can maximise your financial position when you sell, or when you retire.
Our work in ESP
Buckmaster Hawkey has been providing specialist ESP advice for 20 years. We have a web site devoted entirely to the subject with information, articles, case studies, director information, online products, etc., which you can access by clicking on the www.exitstrategyplanning.com link. If you are interested in ESP for your business, we suggest you visit this site for a full explanation if how we work. By way of a summary only, we will give you below an outline of our activities in assisting business owners with their ESP.
Our ESP program
We have designed an ESP programme tailor-made for the SME market. It has several key components, including:
- A review of business structure and shareholder arrangements
- The production of an operational business plan
- A realistic market valuation for the business
- Choosing the optimum disposal method (see the exit options, below)
- Identifying and removing impediments to sale
- Grooming successors and managers (for MBOs)
- Producing an integrated financial plan
- Implementing a successful disposal
The impact of taxation is a key issue in all exit strategy planning, and steps to legally minimize its impact are central to our programme.
What are the exit options?
There are numerous options for exit from a business and a vital part of our programme is the identification of the exit option that maximises the owners' disposal proceeds. These options include:
- Family succession
- Sale to Partners or Shareholders
- Sale to existing management team or employees (MBO)
- Sale to external management team (MBI)
- Public Listing
- Franchising or Licensing
- Sale to another business, or outside investors (Trade Sale)
- Merging with another business (including a Sole Trader merger)
- Managed close down
The choice of the optimum exit option is critical to achieving the optimum price for the business and the maximum personal satisfaction for the owner.
How we can help
We suggest you go to our ESP website for further information, or you can click on and complete the enquiry form below, for a confidential, no obligation, free initial discussion.
