Question 1

Find me a buyer for my business

Accepted Answer

Buyers come from four places and only one of them is a listing site. The best prices usually come from someone already in your industry who wants your customers, your location or your capacity. Next is a competitor, which requires care because you are handing information to someone who benefits from knowing it. Then there are individuals buying themselves a job, who are plentiful but often cannot raise the money. Last are investors and groups buying several businesses in a sector, who are efficient but will pay for profit and nothing else. Before approaching anyone, three things need to be ready. Clean accounts that show the real profit once your own costs are stripped out. Proof that customers stay after you leave. And a confidentiality agreement signed before anything meaningful is shared, because a leak reaches your staff and your customers before it reaches a buyer. Expect the process to take months rather than weeks, and expect the first offer to be conditional on checks that will take longer than promised. We can introduce you to brokers and advisers who handle sales at your size, and we will say plainly if we think your business is too small for the ones who charge the most.

Question 2

I want to franchise what I have built

Accepted Answer

Franchising turns one business into many, and it is a business in itself. You stop running your shop and start running a support organisation for other people's shops. What needs to exist before you can sell a single franchise: proof that the model makes money for an owner who is not you, ideally in more than one location. A written operations manual detailed enough that a stranger can follow it. A protected brand, which means registered trade marks in every country you intend to operate. Training. Ongoing support you can actually deliver. And a franchise agreement drafted by someone who does this specifically. Several countries require you to give prospective franchisees a disclosure document before they sign, with a cooling off period, and the penalties for skipping it are serious. Rules differ by country, so a plan that works at home may need reworking abroad. It is slower and more expensive to start than people expect, and it pays over years rather than months. For the right business it is the most valuable thing the owner ever does. We can connect you with firms who build franchise systems.

Question 3

Can I license my brand or method instead?

Accepted Answer

Licensing is the lighter version of the same idea and it suits people who want income without building an organisation. You are granting permission to use something you own. That might be a trade mark, a product design, software, a process or a body of know how. They pay you, usually as a fee up front, a share of sales, or both. The agreement is where the value sits. It needs to say exactly what is being licensed and what is not, where they can use it and where they cannot, whether anyone else can be given the same rights in that area, how long it lasts, what quality standards apply and what happens if they fall below them, who pays to defend the brand if someone copies it, and what happens at the end. The practical prerequisite is ownership you can prove. If your trade mark is not registered in the country where the licensee will trade, you are licensing something you may not be able to enforce. Registering first is cheaper than arguing later. We can put you in front of people who handle intellectual property and draft these agreements.

Question 4

Merge with a competitor rather than fight one

Accepted Answer

Merging can make sense when two businesses are each half of a good one. You have the customers and they have the capacity, or you are strong where they are weak. The thing that decides it is not the numbers, it is who runs it afterwards. Most small mergers that fail, fail on that, not on price. Agree it before anything else, in writing, including what happens if the two of you disagree later. The rest is mechanics. How the shares split, which usually comes from relative value but is negotiated rather than calculated. Whether one business buys the other or a new one holds both. What happens to each owner's debts, guarantees and leases. Whether either party can be bought out later and on what terms. Both sides need to look properly at the other's numbers and liabilities, because in a merger you inherit their problems as well as their customers. And if the combined business would be large in its market, there may be competition rules to consider, though at small business size that is rare. We can introduce you to advisers who handle this and to firms who check the other side's position properly.

Question 5

I want to sell part of it, not all of it

Accepted Answer

Selling a stake gets you money out without leaving, and it is often the right answer for someone who is tired rather than finished. Two versions. You sell some of your existing shares, in which case the money comes to you personally. Or the business issues new shares to an investor, in which case the money goes into the business and everyone's percentage shrinks. Owners frequently discover the difference too late, so be clear from the start which one you are doing. What matters as much as the price is what comes with it. Whether the buyer gets a seat and a vote. Which decisions now need their agreement, which usually includes taking on debt, paying dividends or selling the business. What happens if one of you wants out later, and whether a buyer for the whole business can force the other to sell too. A minority stake in a small private company is hard to sell on, so buyers price that in and ask for protections. That is normal, but it is worth understanding what you are agreeing to before you sign a shareholders agreement rather than after. We can connect you with corporate advisers and with firms who value stakes of this kind.

Question 6

Can I sell my property and reinvest abroad?

Accepted Answer

It is done constantly and it works, provided the tax and the timing are planned rather than discovered. The things that decide whether it goes smoothly. What you owe on the gain when you sell, which depends on where you live and where the property is, and whether a treaty between them prevents you being taxed twice. Whether the country you are buying into allows foreign buyers freely, restricts them, or requires permission, because several do. What the purchase costs on top of the price, which in some countries adds ten percent or more in transfer tax, notary and registration fees. And how you get the money there, since large cross border transfers attract questions and you will need to evidence the source cleanly. The one that causes the most pain is timing. Selling before you have a purchase lined up can leave the money sitting while rates move, and buying before you sell can leave you carrying both. We work with firms in several countries on property and can put you in touch with people on both ends of the move rather than one.

Question 7

Where is property still affordable to buy into?

Accepted Answer

Affordable and sensible are different questions, and we would rather answer the second. Georgia remains inexpensive by European standards and is straightforward for foreign buyers. Greece is more expensive but is inside the European Union and has a residence route attached, which for some people is the real reason to buy. Poland is reasonably priced with a growing market, though buying as a foreigner can require permission depending on the property and the buyer. The United Arab Emirates is not cheap but ownership for foreigners in designated areas is well established and the process is quick. Pakistan and parts of Asia are cheap in absolute terms, with the real risks being title, inheritance complications and getting money out later. Cyprus has an active market, and in the north in particular title can be genuinely disputed, which is a risk worth understanding fully before committing anything. What actually decides whether it works is not the price. It is whether the title is clean, whether you can sell it again to a local buyer, and whether you can move the proceeds home. Ask those three before you ask the price. We can introduce you to lawyers and agents in each of these places who are independent of the seller.

I want to sell, merge or hand it over