Mergers + Acquisitions
The sale or purchase of a business is a significant time for a family in the business. And the poor management of the purchase or sale process can ruin what is otherwise a great transaction or expose the family to a significant financial loss simply because the focus was not strong enough.
Importantly we understand that the purchase and sale of business typically involve advisors with huge egos – and we intentionally leave our ego at home. Often, the advisors in a sale or purchase fundamentally get in the way by trying to prove their cleverness over the other party and create a lack of trust and uncertainty about intentions – which is not our style.
As advisors, we are prepared to take a backward role and let another lead advisor take a senior role – like a lawyer focusing on vendor warranties on the risk of statements and ongoing legal obligations. Typically, our role is focused on clarity of forwarding cashflows, historical governance structures and the tax impact of typical contractual terms, including capital gains tax, goods and services tax and other potential tax exemptions like the GST going concern exemption, transfer duty, small business capital gains tax concessions and the R&D tax concession.
For the purchase of a business, the structuring of assets to protect the family’s wealth, including superannuation funds, unit trusts and the possibility of structuring offshore operations. It is a significant concern, as is the process of investigating the business by working within the resources and team of the current family and collaborating with the family’s choice of advisors – rather than focusing on only engaging advisors who are aligned to our practice.
Our experience across the business and sales process has ranged from ASX top 25 listed companies buying clients with a full-time team of 16 staff, taking three months as part of the due diligence to smaller deals that are effectively agreed upon. We have also assisted many family sales transactions from one generation to the next, where non-business family members needed protection and respect.
Choosing Westcourt to assist you in buying or selling a business is a wise decision because:
- We have deep expertise and knowledge in transactions across many family-held, privately owned businesses.
- We have team members qualified with family business systems knowledge. Hence, we understand the special nature of a family business moving to another generation or even outside the family culture and way of operating.
- We have proven tax leadership expertise and knowledge that equates to deep tax knowledge and superior client outcomes.
- We can access the knowledge and depth of the GGI Global Alliance Network for offshore transactions.
- We are independent – we do not have an army of ancillary advisors that we want to put over the top of your current team – we leave our egos at the door.
- We understand that many transactions fail – so we offer flexible pricing options, including staged and deferred pricing models for different family needs.
Other Forecasting and Planning Services
CFO Services
Cashflow Control
Mergers + Acquisitions
Loan structures
Finance applications
Board advisory
Business structures
