Preparing the sale of the company

In order to sell the company in optimal conditions and thus to maximize the selling price, we recommend the shareholders to carry out an exit review prior to the sale. Therefore OMNICAP developed the Exit Review Scan. Although the decision to sell and the effective start of the sales process briefly fit together in many cases, it is useful to start the exit review already 2-3 years before the start of the sale process so that there is sufficient time to execute the proposed measures.

Especially for family SMEs, an exit review is very helpful because there is often an interdependence between the family business and private assets. The complete unraveling of this interdependence usually requires some time.

In preparing the company for sale, following elements will be examined and, where necessary, be refined:

• External evaluation of the business to ensure that the client focuses on the value drivers that increase the sale price 
• To present the business in an attractive way for potential buyers
• Identification of weaknesses and risks that the buyer will raise in the context of a due diligence: fiscal risks, social risks, environment, ...
• Optimization of the capital structure of the company
• Optimization of the working capital requirement
• Separation of business and private assets
• Separation of the real estate