Selling Your Business

Comprehensive Services for Sellers

We support you throughout the entire sale process, from initial exit planning through to transaction completion and beyond.

Optimising Tax Positioning

Services include Business Asset Disposal Relief (formerly Entrepreneurs' Relief) planning, timing strategies for tax year optimisation, transaction structure optimisation, pre-sale tax planning, estate planning considerations, and tax-efficient extraction of sale proceeds. Tax optimisation can significantly increase the net proceeds from your business sale, often saving tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Creating Efficient Funding Structures

We structure vendor loans, design funding packages, optimise tax efficiency, and facilitate buyer financing.

Vendor Due Diligence

Our vendor due diligence encompasses comprehensive financial review and analysis, tax compliance assessment and risk identification, operational and commercial review, legal and regulatory compliance assessment, issue identification and resolution planning, and data room preparation and organisation.

Contract Negotiation

Warranties: we negotiate warranty scope, limitations, and caps to protect your interests. Guarantees: advisory on personal guarantees, corporate guarantees, and security arrangements. Deferred consideration and performance-linked payments: structuring earn-out arrangements that balance seller and buyer interests.

Creating Management Incentive Plans

Designing EMI schemes and tax-efficient incentive arrangements, structuring equity participation for management teams, ensuring compliance with tax and employment law, addressing valuation and exercise arrangements, and aligning incentive plans with business objectives.

Raising Capital for Buyers

We structure financing packages for lenders and investors, facilitate introductions to debt providers and private equity investors, support buyer financing processes, and optimise financing structures — helping your buyer fund the deal.

Post-Completion Advice

Staff retention: identifying key employees and retention risks, designing retention bonuses and incentive arrangements, addressing employment contract terms, and managing cultural integration.

Systems integration: IT infrastructure and system compatibility assessment, integration and migration planning, data migration and system consolidation, and business continuity during integration.

Business growth plans: developing strategic growth plans and initiatives, identifying growth opportunities and market expansion, planning operational improvements, and supporting growth strategy implementation.

Exit strategy: developing exit strategies and value realisation plans, planning for future sale or refinancing, optimising business value for exit, and supporting exit planning and execution.

Your Helping Hand

Beyond technical advice, we provide strategic guidance, process management, risk management, emotional support, communication facilitation, and decision support. Successful business sales require more than technical expertise — they require practical guidance.

Real-World MBO/MBI Expertise

Our practical experience enables us to understand buyer perspectives from transaction experience, identify transaction risks through hands-on knowledge, structure optimal deals for all parties, and navigate transaction challenges proactively.

Why Choose Acumon

Leading UK accountancy firm with resources and expertise for transactions of all sizes; real-world MBO/MBI experience having completed multiple successful MBOs and an MBI; rapid transaction completion as a full-service, mid-sized firm of Chartered Accountants with over 90+ UK-based professionals; integrated financial, tax, accounting, and audit expertise; buyer financing support — we frequently arrange financing packages; and practical guidance throughout the sale process.

What You Get With Acumon

• Business Asset Disposal Relief planning and pre-sale tax planning
• Vendor due diligence and data room preparation
• Warranty, guarantee and earn-out negotiation
• EMI schemes and management incentive plans
• Buyer financing facilitation
• Post-completion retention, integration and exit strategy support

Why Acumon for Selling Your Business?

• Completed multiple successful MBOs and an MBI, giving both seller and buyer perspectives
• BADR: 18% CGT rate on qualifying disposals from 6 April 2026, £1 million lifetime limit, 5% shareholding and 2-year officer/employee requirements
• Tax optimisation can often save tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds on a sale
• Only £37k short of the top 100 in the Accountancy Age 50+50 list for 2024; PIE audit licence holder

Get a Fixed-Fee Quote

Tell us what you need and we'll come back within one business day with a clear scope and a fixed price — no hourly-rate surprises. Call 020 8567 3451 or use the form and we'll be in touch.