30 DOING THE DEAL


Continued from page 29


From a sellers’ point of view, the past two years, and the experiences we’ve had, has led a lot of people to re-evaluate what they want to do with their lives, what they want to get out of it. That’s probably created quite a few deals that otherwise might not have happened.


There’s a massive element of people’s thinking being affected by the pandemic. I’ve one client I’m acting for who is in a very good position to sell, simply because of greatly increased activity during the pandemic by reason of what they do.


It’s fallen nicely into place for them at a time where they might be getting ready to think about retirement anyway.


The key words for me are preparation and attention to detail. When it comes to due diligence what you see varies massively. I’ve come across companies, which for various reasons historically, don’t know how many shares they’ve got in an issue.


Even if you’ve only got a vague notion that you might sell five or ten years down the line, act accordingly, start making sure that you’ve got your contracts in order, you’ve got proper and full copies of them everywhere.


Paul Spencer - PM+M


Covid has been the biggest driver of change ever, businesses have changed, models have changed, people are re-evaluating.


Some businesses are doing things now that were on the horizon, but Covid has driven them to do it earlier.


There are a lot of very interesting new models out there that people are looking to maximise.


There is also an element of fatigue as well, people who have reached the point where they want to get out.


There are not many sellers out there but there are certainly a lot of people with cash. They’ve held off during the early part of the pandemic and now they’re ready to go.


They want to expand, and they’re looking at these models and different ways of working and thinking, ‘right, we’ve got to exploit this’.


Anthony Smith - Bar Pintxos (formerly Lantei)


We sold Lantei two Decembers ago for £15m to an organisation called British Engineering Services.


We were on a ten-year plan. I believe the way to make money is to build businesses to sell them.


You always begin with the end in mind, so when it comes to the preparation, the work has more or less been done, because you’re always looking at being able to create something which is going to be exciting for investors to look at in the future.


During Covid, while everybody went into lockdown our work went through the roof. From a facilities management perspective it was amazing. When buildings were closed, we were in there doing the work.


It led to several phone calls, but I wasn’t really interested and said ‘come and see me in two years’. One said, ‘We can give you what you want in two years’ time now,’ and then they put a cheque down.


Everything we’ve


talked about here is about the people side. Doing deals is a people thing


The company that purchased us was the only UK company I would have ever considered selling to and I never ever thought they would approach us.


A couple of things played into it. We had a ten- year plan in place, but you never regret a trade.


I didn’t say goodbye to the team, which was difficult, but the deal was the best move for them, so my parting gift was to look after everybody. There were percentages and Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) share schemes that were given to people, and it would have been remiss of me not take their considerations on board.


The hardest bit of selling a business is life after. I was never prepared for it. When it came the


feeling was so severe it was like losing a family member instantaneously. Nobody has ever prepared you for that psychological cut off.


I decided to become a chef again, so I got a building in Preston, stripped it out, filled it full of Spanish staff, learnt Spanish and I’m cooking food every night.


It’s a great thing to be able to sell a business, it’s a great sense of achievement, it’s something that not everybody is going to be able to experience.


But what you decide to do, your actions or inactions will determine how pleasurable that experience will be along that journey.


Darren Gowling - University of Central Lancashire


There’s lots of money out there from different sources. International investors are coming in.


I’m a venture capitalist and trying to find good deals is hard, prices are going up and it’s not just Lancashire, it’s across the country. We are doing fewer deals; it is tougher because there is a ton of money at risk.


We talk about doing deals, about management buyouts, management buy-ins, buy-in management buyouts, whatever you want to call them, and often it’s about the money.


But everything we’ve talked about here is about the people side. It’s about how you get on with your investor, maybe with your acquirer, obviously with your customers, but it’s a people thing. Doing deals is a people thing.


Don’t concede any own goals. It’s easy to get your management accounts up to date, it’s easy to pay tax.


I’ve probably invested in 300 businesses over the years, some good, some bad, some indifferent, as you might imagine.


It’s very easy as a venture capitalist to do the numbers and look at businesses as a set of numbers. It’s only the good investors who actually connect on some kind of personal level.


The exit is the end game certainly for investors but what some business owners forget about investors is we’re running our own business and we’ve got to find our own exits.


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Management buy-ins and buy-outs Buying a business Selling a business


Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) Strategic business planning Raising finance Business valuations


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