Every business should start with the end in mind.

Succession planning identifies, plans for, and executes an exit strategy for your business.

Succession planning is essential for anyone who wants to realise the full value of their business. As the average age of business owners increases and more and more businesses come onto the market, the difference between a successful succession that realises the full value of the business and one that falls short of the owner’s expectations will be the planning.

Succession pathways and outcomes

Typical succession pathways include:

Generally, clients engage us to work with them to realise their succession plans because:

  • A significant amount of capital is trapped within their business;
  • They need to realise their business’s value to help fund their retirement;
  • They want to see the business continue beyond their generation;
  • It’s time to ‘cash out’ the built up value and realise the opportunities available to them.

Our approach

To achieve the best results for your business, we take you through a structured succession process. Our experience in this area can make all the difference.

  • Preparing for succession. This is an essential phase as it sets out your succession pathway, the timeframes necessary to achieve it, identifies where your business is up to and any deficiencies hindering the succession process, and what needs to be done to prepare your business for succession. This phase also addresses any tax planning and regulatory issues.
  • Structuring the succession deal. A clear plan for how the succession arrangements will be structured removes uncertainties and ensures that all the parties have clear expectations. If the business is being sold or liquidated this phase sets out what is being sold and the price. Any additional agreements such as shareholder and employee arrangements are addressed in this phase. Warranty and indemnity issues are also finalised.
  • Going to market. The final phase prepares and executes the succession plan. Depending on your succession pathway, this phase prepares the documentation necessary to make your business market ready. We prepare the information the market will need to assess your business, the extent of the information required and the controls around what information will be released and when. During our planning phase we would have addressed any likely issues to emerge during a interested parties due diligence process and how to manage these. Finally, we can manage the negotiations for you and bring them to a conclusion.
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