Corporate Sales Stage 4, Completion

Following our ‘April Acquisitions’ four stage summary published earlier this year for the benefit of prospective purchasers of businesses or shares in a company, during September Scott Richardson from our Corporate and Commercial Department has been concentrating on the Seller’s perspective and providing a four stage summary of the share or business sale process for anyone looking to sell a business or shares in a company.

After finalising the legal documents needed under stage 3, the next stage of the sale process is to deal with the mechanics of completion and all post-completion matters affecting a seller. 

Completion consists of the following:

• signing documents needed for completion to take place (sometimes together with the Purchaser and their representatives);
• completion call or meeting to agree when completion takes place between lawyers; and
• receipt of the purchase price, or part of the purchase price agreed, between lawyers.

Then after completion of your sale, you will also likely need to deal with the following post-completion matters:

• handover of company or business documents (some of which dealt with by the lawyers); and
• announcing the acquisition to suppliers, customers and employees.

Finally, it is also sensible to keep a list of all the key dates following completion that you need to be aware of and comply with, for example the following:

• any future payment dates the Purchaser must comply with under the sale agreement;
• the date whereby you will no longer be required to assist the Purchaser with any handover period agreed (if any); and
• the date the Purchaser will no longer be able to make a breach of warranty or indemnity claim (ie. breach of contract claim), or in the case of a share sale only a tax covenant claim, against you under the sale agreement.

If you are considering selling a business or shares in a company, or require legal assistance with preparing or reviewing the legal documents required, please contact Scott Richardson in our Corporate and Commercial Team by phone on 01329 227907 or by email on scott.richardson@glanvilles.co.uk.

The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute, legal advice, and should not be relied upon as advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article. All content was correct at the time of publishing. Legal advice should always be sought in relation to specific circumstances.