Short answer
Owners of compliance businesses usually sell to family or the management team, a competitor, a group building a presence in the sector, or a financial investor. Price matters, but so do how certain the funding is, what happens to your team and customers, and how long you need to stay. Ask every buyer the same questions and compare the answers in writing.
1. The main types of buyer
- Family or your management team. Keeps continuity, but buyers often have limited cash, so more of the price tends to be paid over time from the business's future profits.
- A competitor. Knows the work and the standards. May combine your business with theirs, so your name, office or some roles may not be kept where they overlap.
- A group building in the sector. Buys several firms and runs them side by side, often keeping their names and teams while sharing systems and support.
- A financial investor. Often focuses on larger businesses, and usually wants a management team that can run the business without the owner.
2. What matters beyond price
- Certainty: how the purchase is funded, and how likely the deal is to complete.
- Structure: how much is paid at completion, and how later payments are protected.
- Your team and customers: what the buyer plans for them, and for the name.
- Your role: how long you are expected to stay, and doing what.
- Trust: whether you are comfortable handing over what you built to this buyer.
3. Questions to ask any buyer
- How will you fund the purchase, and can my adviser check it?
- How much is paid at completion, and how are later payments protected?
- What will happen to my staff, their terms and where they work?
- Will the business keep its name?
- Who will run it day to day after I step back?
- How long do you expect me to stay, and in what role?
- Who makes the decisions on your side, and how long does your process usually take?
4. Where Richmonds fits
Richmonds is a founder-led buyer focused only on UK water hygiene, water treatment and fire safety businesses. We plan for your team to stay on their existing terms, your customers to stay looked after and, if you wish, your name to stay. You deal directly with the founder. Acquisitions are funded from Richmonds' own resources and, where a deal needs it, bank or specialist acquisition finance, and we show you how a deal will be funded before you commit. See how it works.
Questions owners ask
What is a trade buyer?
A business that buys other businesses in its own or a related sector, to own and run them, rather than an investor buying mainly for a financial return.
Is the highest offer always the best?
Not always. Compare how much is paid at completion, how later payments are protected, how certain the funding is, and what happens to your team, customers and name.
Should I talk to more than one buyer?
Many owners do, and it helps to compare. Ask each buyer the same questions and get the answers in writing. Your adviser can help you run the process.
Sanjeev Desour is the founder of Richmonds, which buys UK water hygiene, water treatment and fire safety businesses from owners who want to retire. He founded IGNITE Academy in 2014 and runs the IGNITE Group of companies. LinkedIn
This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, and it is not an offer to buy any business. It reflects the rules and announcements known on the "last reviewed" date above. Tax rules and rates change, and announced changes may be altered before they become law, so take advice from your own accountant and solicitor before you act. Richmonds accepts no liability for decisions made on the basis of this guide. See our website terms.