The Process

The First Steps

1 – FIRST CONTACT: Your initial enquiry, or our approach to you. You may decide that this isn’t the right route for you at this time or that you’d like to know a little more, without any commitment or obligation.

2 – CONFIDENTIALITY: We’ll both sign a confidentiality agreement (an NDA) so that we can exchange information securely.

3 – A CLOSER LOOK: At this stage we’ll need to discuss your company performance in greater detail, looking at turnover and profit from the last three years. More importantly, we’ll be looking to establish a relationship based on trust. And ensuring our values, needs and wants are aligned. If all is well we’ll outline a proposal to buy the business in detail. If accepted well work together towards heads of terms.

Terms & Due Dilligence

4 – HEADS OF TERMS: a document outlining the main terms of a proposed deal between two parties. It encapsulates key points such as purchase price or a mechanism to calculate a price, structure of the deal, conditions precedent, confidentiality, exclusivity, and timeline. This document helps to ensure both parties are aligned in understanding before detailed, costly legal work begins.

5 – DUE DILLIGENCE: A meticulous, systematic evaluation of the business. The focal points include: the feasibility of preserving the company’s heritage and ensuring employee welfare; the prospect of the company’s potential for augmentation and expansion; the capacity to widen the customer base and product offerings; the responsible management of the organisation; the sustainability of growth over an extended period; the potential for organisational efficiency with a customer-centric and sales-oriented focus; and the possibilities of boosting profitability and returns by examining costs, margins, and turnover. The bulk of work in this stage consists of the provision by you of certain documents and the oversight of those documents by your professionals, in a nut shell.

The Final Stages

6 – CONTRACTS EXCHANGED: Completion can be an unsettling time as you, your employees and our team begin to embrace this new phase. But it’s also an opportunity for a new start and it’s an exciting time for everyone. We understand that change should be handled sensitively and we’re as mindful of this as you are. Good communication is essential at this stage. Ultimately once these contracts are sign the money will exchange as will the ownership of the share in question.

7 – THE METISTRAD WAY: Once the sale has completed, and after further evaluation of the business, we begin to implement our Business System. This is a blueprint of excellence that we bring to every company we buy. This is the stage in the process where you begin to enjoy the rewards for all your hard work. It’s the start of a process of positive change, where you can move into the next phase of your life and enjoy freedom from the burden, responsibilities, and daily grind of running a company.

We are able to offer an upfront, honest and speedy approach to the sale process that capitalises on the knowledge and experience gained from our experience and the experience of our supporting network. This helps ensure that the process is completed in a short timeframe and with a smooth transition resulting in minimal disruption for the business and colleagues.