Realise the value you’ve worked so hard to create.

We buy SME businesses from owner’s looking to exit and we seek to add value where we can whilst retaining the business in it’s existing form to ensure continuity of it’s success.

We understand the sacrifices that are made when establishing and growing a business, which is why we’ll work with you to achieve an exit that meets your expectations, whilst giving you the comfort that your business, customer’s and more importantly people, are safe in our hands.

Our Focus

We’re primarily interested in the UK’s SME sector, providing business owners with an exit opportunity and the ability to reap the rewards of their many years of hard work. We’d like to talk to established businesses that have a stable cash flow and a strong management team, along with the following criteria:

Location

Anywhere in the UK

Revenue

£750,000 to £10 million

For more than 5 years

Established

<35% debt ratio

Debt

Meet Your Goals

Everyone has their reasons for selling a business, it could be driven by money, boredom, a new opportunity, age, burnout, health or any other manner of reasons. Those reasons each require a tailored approach to the deal so we’ll work with you to ensure that the outcome helps you achieve your goals.

Why Sell Your Business To Us?

A Trusted Steward

You might be concerned that selling your business places your employees and customers at risk, and this concern is certainly justified. We however recognise that your business is the success it is today because of the ‘recipe’ you’ve created and that changing this could have disastrous outcomes. We aim to build upon your successes rather than breaking them down.

Your People Matter

One of the key selling points to your business will undoubtedly be it’s people. Without them and the relationships between them, your business wouldn’t function. We buy businesses because they already have a strong team, and we want to further empower them in their roles rather than enforce unsettling change.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

– Socrates

The Process

  • 1. Initial Chat

    This will be a brief informal chat to learn a little about your business, your wishes and how we might be able to help.

  • 2. Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement

    Once we’ve mutually agreed to continue discussions and delve further into your business we’ll sign a mutual NDA to protect both sides.

  • 3. Face To Face Meeting

    We’ll come to you and meet up for a deeper discussion where we’ll get into the detail, whilst also providing an opportunity to get to know each other better.

  • 4. Review Financials & Other Documentation

    We’ll need to look through your financial statements for the past few years, if these are not already publicly available and we may wish to see other business documentation relevant to the sale.

  • 5. Offer & Heads of Terms

    Once we’ve agreed the high level terms of the deal, we’ll sign Heads of Terms. Whilst not legally binding, it’s important to ensure both parties are fully on the same page before moving forward.

  • 6. Due Diligence

    This is where we’ll need to work together to gather all the information that will allow us to verify the facts and complete the deal.

  • 7. Completion

    Once all legal documents have been drafted, and the business is ready to transfer, both parties will sign and the transfer will be formally complete. Congratulations, you’ve just sold your business!

  • 8. Transition Period

    Following completion, it’s important that there’s a smooth transition to ensure minimal impact to employees, customers and suppliers and keep everything running like the well oiled machine you’ve created.

FAQs

  • Obviously every business is different and this will depend on what class of shares they have, shareholder agreements and so on, but broadly speaking any shareholders who have authority to approve or disapprove the sale of the business need to be fully bought into the decision to sell, and we recommend getting formal agreement prior to entering into negotiations. Establish between you what your parameters are, what compromises you might be willing to make, where your red lines are and so on.

  • Smaller businesses (SMB’s) are usually simpler to sell than larger businesses. That’s for a number of reasons but partly because the seller and buyer are able to communicate directly with one another and come to an agreement more easily. With a larger business it might be the lawyers doing the negotiating and there might be other brokers or agents involved. Additionally, paperwork will typically be more extensive and complex with a larger business, whilst a small business owner is able to gather everything quite quickly.

    We work fast and we’ll aim to complete the deal in a relatively short timeframe, once the Heads of Terms have been agreed. Several weeks is a good target to aim for. Being up front and honest about the details of your business operations and finances will ensure a swift completion.

  • We’ll sign a mutual NDA before requesting any sensitive information so we’ll be legally bound to keep it confidential. In the event that the deal does not proceed, all material provided to us will be destroyed.

  • There doesn’t need to be. Whilst we recommend you seek legal representation, we suggest you use their time wisely. Deferring negotiations to your lawyer can rack up costs in the tens of thousands, whilst focussing their attention on legal documents and advice should keep costs within a more reasonable bracket.

  • This depends but at the least you would usually be expected to make yourself available to us for any questions we might have, for a period following completion of the sale. In some cases you might be asked to assist in post during a transition period if it’s imperative to the successful and smooth transition of the business.

  • You are not legally obligated to follow through with the sale until you’ve signed all the paperwork on completion day, which is right at the end of the whole process. Until then you can walk away without having to give up any part of your business. However we do suggest that if you’re having cold feet then it’s best to share this as soon as possible so that your concerns can be properly addressed and if necessary work is halted until they can be resolved. Once Heads of Terms are signed the expectation is that the deal will complete unless issues arise during due diligence.

  • Similar to buying and selling property, solicitors from each party will handle the completion at a given time to ensure that the transfer takes place correctly.

About

Simon De La Haye will lead the acquisition process and works with selected partners (other individuals investing in the small business space) who have experience and skills that add value to the business.

He has experience starting and running online as well as bricks and mortar businesses. He also has board level experience within the finance industry.

He believes that a successful business will invest heavily in it’s people, have a strong customer centric culture, and use technology to augment processes .

His core strengths are problem solving, operational efficiency, implementing technology and maximising resources.

Get in touch.

If you have an opportunity that meets our criteria then please get in touch with Simon for an informal chat.

Email: simon@dlhaye.com

Phone: +44 (0)7829829829