BUSIINSS IDEAS
Going concerns
An insight into selling property with a business attached.
Andrea Kirkby talks to a Business Transfer Agent.
M
ost agents deal with fairly simple properties; an office block, a house, a flat. They’re interested
only in the bricks and mortar. But business transfer agents take it further – they sell the business as well as the premises. They don’t have a high profile. The national obsession with house prices passed them by, and they deal in private businesses, not the large stock exchange quoted companies which make the headlines. I spoke to Jeff Powell, an experienced
business transfer agent, who sits on the committee of the Institution of Commercial and Business Agents (ICBA), about the work of business transfer agents and the challenges facing them.
Q How does the business transfer agent differ from a commercial property agent?
A It’s much more complex. Residential estate agents have an easy life because their transactions are fairly straightforward, either freehold or leasehold on fairly
40 MARCH 2010 PROPERTYdrum
standard terms. Commercial agents have to deal with more complexity, for instance there are dilapidations and so on. We then have the extra layer on top of that, of dealing with the business itself, whether it’s successful, how much money it makes, what it’s worth. The complexity is all about the business – not the property. If we’re selling a leasehold, then the leases are exactly the same as you’d see in any commercial practice. We have to understand accounts, and we have to be able not just to read the accounts
ICBA And BusIness trAnsfer Agents
Michael Hare, Chairman, ICBA, says that about 25 per cent of members are business transfer agents – the remainder are commercial letting agents. He points out that any business transfer agent who is a member of ICBA must be qualified, either as a chartered surveyor or through the Technical Award in Commercial Property or Diploma in Commercial Property Agency. ICBA members must also abide by one of the redress systems such as The Property Ombudsman.
but also to know how to interpret them in terms of the business. Accounts can be up to eighteen months old by the time you get to see them, so we also need to know how to get an up to date idea of how the business is doing. We also need plenty of general business
knowledge. For instance, I have to understand employment law – if there are employees working in the business, what are their rights, what is their entitlement to redundancy and so on. When you’re looking at a business you
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