Business Purchase Solicitors
Purchasing a business comes with its own set of complex legal challenges, which can be daunting. Using specialist business purchase solicitors, such as Scott Bailey, will help you navigate these challenges with confidence and avoid potentially costly mistakes.
At Scott Bailey, we have extensive experience guiding clients through the process of buying a business. Having handled countless business purchases, large and small, you can trust our expert solicitors to manage the transaction professionally, provide practical legal advice, and always protect your interests.
Get expert legal advice on buying a business
Expert legal advice on buying a business
Our highly skilled business purchase solicitors are here to guide you through every step of buying a business.
- Obtaining a valuation for the target business
- Negotiating heads of terms
- Carrying out due diligence
- Reviewing commercial agreements and contracts
- Handling employment matters, contracts and TUPE
- Negotiating the terms of the business sale agreement
- Transferring funds
- Transferring property interests and other contracts
Trusted Hampshire-based lawyers for buying a business
With offices in Lymington and Lyndhurst, our specialist business purchasing solicitors regularly advise clients across Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and the South Coast. We offer expert support throughout the entire process from obtaining an initial valuation of the target company to reviewing business sale contracts and transferring funds.
Our team has extensive company and commercial law expertise, including commercial property, meaning we can support you throughout the entire business purchase process and beyond.
Pricing
At Scott Bailey, we understand that buying a business is a significant decision, and we aim to provide transparent and value-driven pricing to support you through this process.
For SME businesses valued up to around £5 million, we offer a value-based pricing structure that ensures you receive the best possible service tailored to your needs. Our standard fixed legal costs typically range from 1-2% of the deal’s value and cover essential services, such as:
- Initial consultations
- Property (where there is a leasehold or freehold property, for example)
- Due diligence
- Settling outstanding finance
- Preparation of purchase documents
- Negotiations
- Liaising with all third parties (accountants, brokers, banks, other party solicitors, etc.)
- Completing the transaction
- Post-completion filings
- And, of course, advising our clients each step of the way.
We have a minimum charge of £3,750 + VAT for smaller matters and micro businesses, depending on the complexity and work involved.
Our fees are designed to reflect the complexity and value of the transaction, and we even fix them to give clients the peace of mind of knowing what their legal costs will be right from the outset. There’s nothing worse than being afraid to speak to your legal adviser for fear of being charged more!
If a transaction aborts, we charge a proportionate amount of the fixed fee based on where we reached in the transaction.
Get the right business, at the right price, with our expert business purchase solicitors
From obtaining an initial valuation and drafting or reviewing heads of terms to negotiating the finer details of your business sale agreement, our specialist solicitors are here to help you secure a business that aligns with your expectations at a fair price.
The importance of due diligence
In simple terms, the due diligence process involves raising appropriate enquiries of a seller relating to the type of business being bought. These enquiries help to uncover relevant information about the target business and how it works.
At Scott Bailey, our expert lawyers will be able to guide you through the due diligence process, make recommendations based on findings, and draft specific clauses in any formal contract, to ensure you are protected and that the deal is right for you.
Read ‘The importance of due diligence‘ for more information.
Effectively navigating the challenges of buying a business
When purchasing a business, numerous challenges can arise. Our expert business purchase solicitors are here to help you navigate these challenges effectively, ensuring the process stays on track and you avoid the many potential pitfalls of buying a business.
It is not just during the purchase process that issues can arise though. In some cases, problems only become apparent post-completion. If you do not have suitable legal protection in place, these problems can be costly. To mitigate this risk, our solicitors always draw up appropriate purchase documentation, ensuring you have the desired legal protection. Some of the tools and mechanisms we use to protect buyers when purchasing a business include:
- Appropriate warranties confirming the business’s condition at the point of completion
- Indemnities relating to specific known business liabilities
- Retention of part of the purchase price for the length of the warranty period where there is a high risk of breach
- Restrictive covenants to prevent the sellers from competing with the business post-completion
- Price reductions
Share purchase or asset purchase
Share purchase
In a share purchase, the buyer acquires the business “warts and all”. As such, the buyer takes the company with its rights, benefits, and assets, but also its liabilities. This is why buyers must secure appropriate warranties from the sellers to avoid exposure to undue risk post-completion. Examples of common warranty provisions include finance and banking, accounts, IP and commercial contracts, employees, property and tax.
Asset Purchase
Asset purchases allow a buyer to take the desired assets whilst leaving behind negative elements which are not required. Warranties should still be secured on asset purchases to protect buyers from inheriting more than they bargained for; however, they may not need to be quite as wide-ranging as for the equivalent share purchase.
Drawing on their considerable experience, our specialist business purchase solicitors can advise you on the appropriate levels of warranties for both share purchases and asset purchases. We appreciate there is no “one size fits all” approach and only provide tailored practical advice.
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We would like to hear from you. Please send us a message by filling out our form or contact us using the details below.
Phone: 01590 676933
Fax: 01590 679663
Scott Bailey LLP, 63 High Street, Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 9ZT
