• Acknowledgements
• Deciding You Want To Buy
• Deciding What To Buy
• Beginning Your Planning And Appo
• Starting Your Search
• Finding A Business To Buy
• Before You Approach
• Approaching The Business
• What Is It Worth?
• Valuation Techniques
• Financing The Deal
• Negotiating The Price
• Due Diligence
• Financial Due Diligence
• Commercial Due Diligence
• The Sales Contract And Completio
• Trouble With The Taxman
• Taking Control
• Financial Management
• Buying A Business To Turn Around

Buying a Business and Making it Work

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• Acknowledgements
  • Deciding You Want To Buy
• Deciding You Want To Buy
  • Undertaking Research
  • You As A Business Buyer
  • Who Are You And Why Do You Want To Buy?
  • What Buying A Business Will Not Do
  • The Qualities You Need (Or Why You Shouldn’t Buy A Business)
  • And What Happens If It All Goes Wrong?
  • Alternatives To Buying For Expansion
• Deciding What To Buy
  • The Importance Of Focus
  • What Type Of Business Do You Want To Buy?
  • What Types Of Business Are There?
  • Other Characteristics To Consider
  • Researching The Business
  • Where Should You Buy A Business?
  • When Is The Best Time To Buy A Business?
• Beginning Your Planning And Appointing Advisers
  • Having A Plan
  • Doing It As A Group
  • Purchasing Vehicle
  • Acquisition Plan
  • Who You Will Need
  • Appointing Advisers
  • Managing Your Advisers
  • The Need For Due Diligence
• Starting Your Search
  • What Are You Looking For?
  • Who Are Sellers?
  • Why Do Sellers Sell?
  • Why Sellers Don’t Sell
  • Family Businesses
  • Who Are You Competing With?
• Finding A Business To Buy
  • Search Tactics
  • Businesses For Sale And Not For Sale
  • Finding Businesses That Are Formally For Sale
  • Financial Promotion
  • Finding Businesses That Are Not For Sale
  • Mbo Specific Issues
  • Franchising
• Before You Approach
  • Desktop Reviews And Screening
  • Sources Of Non-Financial Information
  • Financial Information
  • Having Faith In Numbers
  • Understanding Accounts
  • How Are Accounts Prepared?
  • What Is In Each Part Of The Accounts?
  • What Should You Look For In The Accounts?
  • Understanding Profitability
  • Understanding Financial Stability
  • Understanding Financial Efficiency
  • Summary
• Approaching The Business
  • The Importance Of First Contact
  • Approaching The Business
  • Approaching A Business That Is Not For Sale
  • The First Meeting
  • Understanding The Business Beyond The Numbers
  • Review Checklist
  • Confidentiality
• What Is It Worth?
  • The Importance Of Realistic Valuations At The Outset
  • How Does Price Relate To Risk For Either Side?
  • Valuations Are Valueless
  • The Value Of Valuations
  • What If The Seller Has Set A High Asking Price?
  • It’s Rude To Talk About Money
  • Bases Of Valuations
  • What Is For Sale?
  • Is It Really A Buyable Business?
  • Dealing With A Mixed Bag
• Valuation Techniques
  • Do You Need To Know About Valuations?
  • Restatement Of Earnings
  • In The Black
  • Asset Valuation
  • Market Valuation
  • Discounted Cashflow
  • Return On Investment
  • Sector Specific
  • Earnings Multiples
  • What You Should Not Pay For
  • Summary
• Financing The Deal
  • What Does The Money Need To Cover?
  • Where Do You Get The Money?
  • What Form Of External Finance Is Right?
  • Campari Checklist
  • Equity
  • Borrowing Against Personal Property
  • Grants
  • Debt
  • Management Buy-Out Financing Information Checklist
  • How Much Can You Borrow?
  • Vendor Finance
  • Financial Assistance Rules
• Negotiating The Price
  • The Negotiation Process
  • What If Negotiations Run Into Difficulties?
  • Structuring The Deal
  • How Certain Is Payment Going To Be?
  • How Much Is The Seller Financing?
  • How Certain Is The Price?
  • Other Key Terms
  • Heads Of Terms
• Due Diligence
  • What Is Due Diligence?
  • Legal Due Diligence
• Financial Due Diligence
  • Why Financial Due Diligence Is Important
  • More Than Just Ticks In Boxes
  • Contents Of Due Diligence Report
• Commercial Due Diligence
  • Why Commercial Due Diligence Is Important
  • Assessment Of The Management Team
  • What About The Old Owner?
  • Problem Due Diligence
• The Sales Contract And Completion
  • The Twin Track Process
  • The Sales Contract
  • So What Are Representations, Warranties And Indemnities?
  • Covenants
  • Closure
  • Typical Share Purchase Agreement
• Trouble With The Taxman
  • The Importance Of Tax
  • Value Added Tax
  • Stamp Duty
  • Capital Gains Tax
  • Income Tax
  • Interaction Of Income And Capital Gains Taxes
• Taking Control
  • The Timescale And Need For Speed
  • Fast Or Slow Integration?
  • Your Plan
  • Communications
  • Change Management
  • Managing People And The Process Of Change
  • How Can You Make Change Happen?
  • Managing And Motivating Staff To Change
  • Redundancies
• Financial Management
  • Managing By The Numbers
  • Group Structure
  • Cleaning Up The Group Structure
  • Management Information
  • Profit Improvement
  • Cashflow Management
  • Cash Flow Improvement
• Buying A Business To Turn Around
  • Why Buy A Business In Difficulties?
  • So How And Why Do Businesses Start To Fail?
  • Finding A Business To Turn Around
  • Buying A Business Before Insolvency
  • Buying From A Receiver Or Administrator
  • Making A Turnaround Work