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17/10/2017
When you decide to sell your business, you’ll need to provide enough information for a potential buyer to make a decision. Some of this will be sensitive information about your sales, profit, customers, business processes and know how. Potential buyers will want to see this information but as the business owner, you may want to limit what buyers can see, and prevent that information from going any further. Having a potential buyer sign a confidentiality agreement or non-disclosure agreement (NDA) gives you some protection. If they do breach confidentiality you’ve a better chance of taking legal action and seeking damages if they have signed a document promising not to breach confidentiality.
Although keeping elements of your business secret is important, you do need to balance it with the buyer being able to complete robust due diligence and find out what makes your business tick. One way to limit who gets your information is to disclose only parts to general queries, and then only full disclosure to seriously interested parties.
When you're selling your business, you’ll probably use your lawyer to draft this confidentiality agreement for interested parties that suits your business. In some cases, you may also get your employees to sign as well, especially if they are involved in the sale process. Get legal advice to make sure all the boxes are ticked and that the agreement contains everything it should.
There are several good reasons, including:
Aside from the agreement itself, it's important to keep your intention to sell your business confidential until you're ready. If word leaks out prematurely, customers may alter their buying behaviour or speculate as to why.
Before placing the NDA in front of a potential buyer, you can save yourself a lot of time by making sure they're a genuinely interested party with the means to purchase. An effective way to pre-qualify prospects is to describe your business and response requirements in a way that helps unqualified buyers opt themselves out. In every ad you place, in print or online, ask potential buyers to provide the following information:
You can cover this request in one sentence such as:
Please outline your related business background, the type and size business you seek, your investment capability and your interest in this business.
It’s almost like a job interview. People that are genuine will not have an issue providing you with this information. Ultimately you’re trying to find a person that not only will be able to afford your business, but one that fits with the culture of your business.
Most agreements are pretty standard. The potential buyers agree:
Your lawyer will draft an agreement that lays out these terms in more formal, legal language. However, if you're not using a lawyer, you can download NDA templates that include all the necessary information. The Law Depot UK has free NDA templates that can be quickly and easily customised for your business.
Selling your business is exciting, and for some may even have been their end goal. The last thing you want is for sensitive information to leak, causing damage to your business and unrest among your staff. A confidentiality agreement helps reduce the chance this will happen and protects potential buyers who are assessing your business - one less thing to worry about.
POSTED IN: Succession,Insurance,2017
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