
10 Tips
TO TAKE OVER A BUSINESS SUCCESSFULLY
Tip 1: Know how to prepare your project to take over a business successfully
Before moving on to the operational phase, it is essential to reflect on the motivations and objectives of the operation. There may be many reasons for taking over a business, and any lack of clarity about the reasons for doing so will make it difficult for sellers to consider your case.
In addition, a financial or even personal diagnosis is an essential prerequisite for the operation.
Tip 2: Never take over a business alone
In order to take over a business in all its aspects (financial, tax, legal and technical), it is necessary to surround yourself with specialists, from the preparation phase onwards. Do not rely on the seller’s advice to help you. They are not there for that purpose and represent only the interests of the seller. They would be in a conflict of interest and would incur professional liability if they gave you advice. It is preferable to join a buyers’ club and to be accompanied by a “buyer’s” consultancy firm for both the audit and the negotiation phase. A “buyer” consultancy firm is an excellent solution for giving credibility to your approach in the eyes of the sellers and especially their advisors.
Tip 3: Define your target precisely
Failure to identify a precise target will inevitably lead to failure. Do not believe that by increasing the range of targets you will increase the chances of success. On the contrary! Mergers and acquisitions firms appreciate buyers who have a precise target and stick to it. However, if you only look for a company in your region with a profitability of more than 10%, you increase the risk of failure.
Tip 4: The seller chooses the buyer
Many takeovers fail because of a lack of understanding of the psychology of the seller. The latter has often spent several decades of his life setting up and developing a business that supports his entire family and many employees. He is not selling a piece of real estate but rather a part of himself. The relational and emotional aspect of the negotiation is often a determining factor. The buyer must therefore seduce the potential seller. Cases of sellers deciding to sell at a lower price than they had initially decided on are not uncommon when the buyer manages to create a climate of trust that reassures the seller that the business will continue to exist.
Tip 5: Be a risk manager
To take over a business successfully, you need to adopt a risk management approach. First, you must identify the risks of the takeover, particularly in financial terms (profitability, etc.), strategic terms (is the company in a buoyant market?), legal terms (does the company have well-drafted commercial contracts?), tax terms (has the company not taken certain ill-considered risks), environmental terms (does the company comply with anti-pollution standards?), and social terms (is the social climate good?). Once these risks have been identified, you will have to assess them and then rank them from the lowest to the highest in terms of claims. Ultimately, you will have to deal with these risks by means of insurance, guarantees or transfers.
Tip 6: Approach the financial side of the business with regard to its impact on the tax and legal side
You must involve the seller in the sale process. To do this, it is recommended that both parties pre-contract their intentions in a joint letter of intent. A well-locked promise makes it possible to limit future discussions and disagreements by setting out very precise suspensive and resolutive conditions as well as any resulting indemnities.
The guarantee of assets and liabilities must be carefully drafted by a specialist if its provisions are to be implemented. You will need to negotiate the seller’s commitments, in particular his resignation from the board of directors, his possible support and a non-competition and non-solicitation clause for the future.
Tip 7: Keep your legal hand in check
Be careful before writing a letter of intent, requesting exclusivity, signing a promise, a sales contract, a guarantee of liabilities, etc.
Try to involve the seller and his or her advisor from the letter of intent onwards. Do not hesitate to send your draft letters of intent to the seller’s advisor before sending them to his client. Ideally, discuss the letter of intent with the seller’s counsel in one or more working meetings. This will greatly increase your chances of having the LOI accepted, as the seller’s counsel knows the negotiating leeway of his client.
Tip 8: Price is not everything
To take over a company successfully, do not focus solely on the sale price of the target company. Try to take a global approach to the value of the company by looking at the future. The future potential of the business is much more important than the price you pay at the time of signing, and it is often only 2 or 3 years later that you realise whether you paid too much or not.
The involvement of the seller in the takeover process also appears to be an important guarantee of success for the buyer. Don’t forget that the time he spends with you during the support period is sometimes more valuable than the price you will pay.
Tip 9: Without financing there can be no takeover
As with any business creation or development project, financial partners will look for a project whose risk is in line with the expected rate of return (IRR). To convince them, whatever the set-up, the essential element lies in the ability of the people involved to make this transition and the subsequent development a success. The commercial, technical and financial credibility of the buyer will be decisive. The experience and confidence of the company’s staff will also be crucial… Finally, the quality of the strategic, operational and financial business plan must be impeccable.
Tip 10: After the takeover, adapt yourself
Have you taken over? Be careful, you are changing your status…
You are no longer an employee or company director but are taking the place of a company director in a company you do not know. Be humble and never criticise past management towards anyone.
Take advice at this stage, whether it is your first experience as a manager or an external growth operation.
The group in short :
Every year More than 30 successfull transactions with 20 Senior Consultants and Partners On companies with 5 to 100 employees With a turnover of 1 to 100 Million
We are located in many countries in Europe and Africa to provide access to foreign buyers/investors:
Lastest articles
Check out our latest publications


Wildmoka raises 2M€ in funding
Actoria news, Fusacq International, International business transfer, International business valuation, Sale of an international company, Sell your business internationally, SME for sale in International

10 questions before selling your business
Actoria news, Fusacq International, Sale of business International
The trap of valuation multiples
Actoria news, International business transfer, SME for sale in International
The 5 stages of change applied to the sale of a company
Actoria news, Fusacq International, International business takeover, International business transfer, International business valuation, Sell your business internationally, Selling an International company, SME for sale in International, Takeover of an International business, UnclassifiedAny questions?
An expert team at your disposal
They trust us
Actoria has allowed me to quickly diagnose the dysfunctions in the processes of our company, to offer optimizations and to implement them. Actoria has also successfully supported us in all phases of our company’s transfer to a group in our sector: preparation of my company, identification of buyer partners, negotiation up to the entry of the partner’s capital. Actoria brought us negotiation expertise and found us a good partner.
We were relatively anxious to find a solution because my health was deteriorating rapidly. Actoria’s consultant allowed me to successfully carry out my company’s sale. Its action has been crucial to carry out this delicate project because it involved all of our day-to-day activities. This project was close to my heart and was becoming increasingly necessary. The impulse given by Actoria was decisive to make it happen.
First, Actoria made an effective diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of our company and then proposed to take them into account in our management in order to increase the value of our company. Actoria led this project with my entire management team which made it possible to involve all the operatives and to be able to quickly implement a solution to enter the capital of an investor supplemented by the entry of certain executives of my company as well as a bank.
I couldn’t be happier with the result, but I am especially pleased with my decision to work with Actoria. The success of this mission was the direct result of Actoria’s hard work and sophisticated professionalism on my business. From our first meeting through the reasonable preparation process, all phases of the transfer, legal and financial operations were managed by the Actoria team. Their skills were even more evident when the complexities of this transaction were at its peak.
Hiring Actoria made the difference to achieve my original goal and move on to my next professional challenge. Selling a company like AMR in this market has not been an easy task. Actoria has demonstrated perseverance in identifying good buyers with knowledge of my industry in order to continue the development of my business, and has provided professional advice throughout the process.
The company’s sales process has been a very long and difficult journey. The professional support of Actoria made this effort much easier. I would especially like to thank the consultants from Switzerland and France for their very effective collaboration. Your consultants proposed creative solutions during the negotiations to effectively overcome significant obstacles in order to conclude the agreement. Their experience, knowledge and professionalism contributed to the success of this transaction.
The group in short :
Every year More than 30 successfull transactions with 20 Senior Consultants and Partners On companies with 5 to 100 employees With a turnover of 1 to 100 Million
We are located in many countries in Europe and Africa to provide access to foreign buyers/investors:
The question of selling a business in France arises sooner or later. How to find the right buyer in Europe ? How to successfully transfer my business in Europe ? When you want to hand the hand over to a successor, buyer, buyer or investor, the terms used are various: delivery company Europe, sale company france, sale company Europe, sale company Europe, sale small business in Europe. Whatever the terms used for the sale of your company in Europe, you can put your company on a list of companies for sale in Europe, a business exchange, or seek advice from a fusacq, a specialist in business transfer in Europe. With him you can think about the best buyer: family,employee, investment fund, external buyer. Sometimes it can offer you other solutions such as a getting closer to a company, a merging or establishing an alliance with another european company.
Transmission d’entreprise en Suisse, Vente d’entreprise en Suisse, Succession et développement des entreprises en Suisse, Transmission d’entreprise en Belgique, Vente d’entreprise en Belgique, Succession et développement des entreprises en Belgique, Trasmissione, Vendita d’azienda, impresse, PMI, Successione e Sviluppo del Business in Svizzera, Ticino e Italia, Traspaso, Cesión y Desarrollo de empresas en España, Transmission d’entreprise en France, Vente d’entreprise en France, Succession et développement des entreprises en France, Übertragung, Verkauf, Nachfolge und Entwicklung der Unternehmen in der Schweiz & Deutschland, Transmission d’entreprise au Luxembourg, Vente d’entreprise au Luxembourg, Succession et développement des entreprises au Luxembourg.
© Copyright Actoria – Legal Notices