Buying and Selling a Business: Managing the Legal Hurdles – a recorded lunchtime online conference

Hear from the experts at this online conference. You can watch it on your computer or on your portable electronic device from anywhere.

The conference will be based on our highly successful video webinar technology: there'll be a chairperson and presentations.

THE PROGRAM

Session 1: Changing Business Structure to Facilitate Business Sale

Getting ready for business sale may require adjusting or changing business structure to help manage risk or improve value. This session looks at the key issues involved with business restructuring when advising a buyer to sell, including:

• Advantages and disadvantages of different business structures and the reasons to change
• Some common business structure transitions:

• Sole trader to partnership
• Partnership to company
• Sole trader to company

• Assessing business structure in terms of:

• Exposure to risk
• Tax considerations
• Transfer duty exposure
• Administration and business operations

• Isolating liabilities rather than cross guarantees
• Case studies

Session 2: Due Diligence Checklists on Business Sales: The Buyer’s Perspective

When it comes to buying a business, clients will turn to their trusted adviser to help guide them through the process. While it can be an exciting time, a failure to properly understand the detail can lead to potential for things to go wrong down the track. This practical session examines the key issues buyers need to navigate, including:

• How are you buying it? – asset sale or share sale
• Key searches and due diligence to consider:
  • PPS issues
  • tax, GST, and Payroll Tax
  • IT issues, including software licences, website, socials, cloud computing etc
  • review of IP ownership
  • leases and freehold
  • review of licenses, leases and consents
  • customer and supplier contracts
• Employee entitlements the buyer must recognise
• Super Guarantee compliance
• Case studies

Session 3: Due Diligence Checklists on Business Sales: The Seller’s Perspective

This session looks at the major issues that business owners need to navigate when deciding to sell their business, including:

• The decision to sell – when is it right?
• Identifying matters that need fixing or ‘tidying’ up prior to sale
• Essential contract terms – an evaluative guide:
  • warranties and indemnities
  • termination
  • earn outs
  • disclosure
  • restraints of trade
• Dealing with ongoing employees and their entitlements
• Case studies