Corporate Transactions

Preparing your business for sale, investment or succession

Issues that may have seemed minor during day-to-day operations can quickly become significant during due diligence. Missing shareholder records, unclear ownership of intellectual property, outdated contracts, undocumented arrangements with key people, or unresolved disputes can all create delay, increase stress and affect buyer confidence.

Our Business Sale Readiness Review is a fixed-fee review designed to help business owners, founders and shareholders identify potential legal issues before a formal sale or transaction process begins. It gives you a clearer picture of where your business stands, what may need attention and the practical steps that can be taken before you go to market or enter negotiations. 

The aim is simple: to help you address avoidable issues early, protect value and approach a future transaction with greater confidence and control. 

Who is it for?

The Review is designed for business owners, founders and shareholders who are considering a sale or other significant future transaction.

It may be particularly useful if you are:

• Thinking about selling your business in the next 6 to 24 months
• Planning retirement or succession
• Preparing for external investment
• Considering a restructure before a future sale or investment
• Running a business that has grown over time and may now have legacy documents, informal arrangements or outdated structures

The Review is especially relevant for owner-managed and growing businesses where arrangements may have developed organically over time. What worked well at the start of the business may not be suitable when a buyer, investor or funder begins asking detailed questions.

Why prepare before a sale process begins?

A buyer’s due diligence process is designed to test the business. It will usually involve questions about ownership, contracts, employees, property, intellectual property, finance, disputes and regulatory compliance.

If issues are identified late in the process, they can affect the timetable, create additional cost or give the buyer an opportunity to renegotiate. In some cases, issues that could have been dealt with early become much harder to resolve once the transaction is underway. For example, an incomplete statutory register or unclear shareholder record may seem like an administrative issue, but it can become a significant concern when a buyer’s advisers begin due diligence. 

Preparing in advance can help you identify potential issues before they become transaction problems, improve buyer confidence and reduce avoidable pressure once negotiations have begun. 

The aim is not to create unnecessary work. It is to help you understand what matters, what can wait and what may sensibly be addressed before a buyer or investor starts looking closely at the business.

What does the Review cover?

The Business Sale Readiness Review is a practical, senior-led diagnostic exercise. It is not a full legal audit or due diligence review.

The Review is led by a partner or senior solicitor in our Corporate & Commercial team. It begins with a structured questionnaire, but the value lies in how your responses are assessed in the context of your business, your future plans and the type of transaction you may be considering.

The questionnaire can be adapted to reflect the nature of your business, so the advice meeting focuses on the areas most likely to matter in a future sale, investment or succession process. Rather than giving you a generic checklist, we use your answers to identify where there may be risk, where further work may be sensible and which issues are likely to matter most to a buyer, investor or funder.

 It is designed to identify potential risk areas across the main legal issues that commonly arise during a business sale or corporate transaction, including:

• Corporate structure and ownership
• Shareholder and governance arrangements
• Key commercial contracts
• Intellectual property and business assets
• Employment and key people
• Property arrangements, where relevant
• Finance and security
• Disputes and other potential risks
• Data protection and regulatory issues

This helps you understand which areas appear straightforward, which may need further consideration and which may require action before a sale, investment or succession process begins.

What you receive

The fixed-fee Review includes:

• An initial scoping call to understand your business and future plans
• A structured questionnaire covering key sale readiness areas
• A partner or senior solicitor review of your questionnaire responses, focused on identifying the issues most likely to affect value, timing, buyer confidence or transaction risk 
• A traffic-light assessment of potential risk areas
• A follow-up advice meeting with a partner or senior solicitor to discuss the findings, assess which issues are likely to matter in practice and agree sensible next steps 
• A short written summary of key issues and recommended next steps

The traffic-light assessment is designed to make the findings clear and practical.

Red indicates issues that may need attention before a sale or transaction.

Amber indicates issues to consider, monitor or address depending on the timing and nature of the proposed transaction.

Green indicates that no obvious immediate concern has been identified from the information provided at this stage.

The Review does not provide a legal sign-off that the business is sale-ready in every respect. Instead, it gives you a practical starting point for understanding what may need attention and where further advice may be useful.

What is not included?

The Business Sale Readiness Review does not include full legal due diligence, a complete audit of the business, legal review of documents, tax advice, valuation advice, drafting, negotiation, disclosure preparation or implementation of any recommendations.

Where further legal work is needed, we can scope and quote for that separately. This may include reviewing or updating shareholder documents, tidying up statutory records, reviewing key contracts, dealing with intellectual property ownership issues or preparing documentation before a formal transaction process begins.

The Business Sale Readiness Review is offered on a fixed-fee basis, subject to an initial scoping discussion. For larger or more complex businesses, group structures, live transaction processes or matters requiring document review or specialist advice, we will discuss the appropriate scope and provide a bespoke quote. 

Fixed-fee review

For suitable matters, the Business Sale Readiness Review is available at a fixed fee of £1,850 plus VAT.

The fee includes an initial scoping call, structured questionnaire, senior-led review of your responses, traffic-light assessment, advice meeting and short written summary with recommended next steps.

If your business is larger or more complex, has a complex group structure or many shareholders, is already in a live transaction process, or requires document review or specialist advice, we will discuss the appropriate scope with you and provide a bespoke quote.

How Streathers can help

Our Corporate & Commercial team advises business owners, founders, entrepreneurs and investors on sales, acquisitions, investment, restructuring and wider commercial arrangements.

The Review is delivered by experienced members of our Corporate & Commercial team, with partner or senior solicitor involvement throughout. We combine clear legal analysis with practical commercial judgement, helping you understand which issues are likely to matter in a real transaction and which can be dealt with proportionately. 

For many business owners, a sale is one of the most significant commercial decisions they will make. Early preparation can make the process smoother, reduce avoidable pressure and help protect value.

Speak to Philip Deja, Partner and Head of Corporate & Commercial 

If you are considering selling your business, preparing for investment or planning for succession, Philip Deja, Partner and Head of Corporate & Commercial, would be happy to talk through whether a Business Sale Readiness Review may be appropriate.

Please contact Philip or our Corporate & Commercial team to arrange an initial discussion.