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3 tips for a successful business sale

You’re getting ready to sell your business. You’ve found a buyer and want to get the process moving as quickly as possible. Here are our top 3 tips for speeding up the process, without losing any security.

1. Prepare your parts

Before buying your business, the buyer will conduct a kind of audit of your business, looking at every aspect of your business. You will need to provide a whole range of documents, such as tax and accounting documents for the last few years, employee employment contracts, a list of current contracts, etc.
More often than not, the customer is missing documents. This may be the general terms and conditions of sale of a leasing contract that the customer has lost and that the leasing company has not returned despite repeated requests, a lost employment contract, a certificate from an accountant who is not very responsive.
Our advice is to start, as soon as possible, to take stock of the documents at your disposal, and to look for the missing documents.

2. Purge pre-emptive rights

One of the main reasons for slowing down the sale of a business is the purging of pre-emptive rights.
Pre-emptive rights are the right granted to someone to have priority in the purchase of your business when it is put up for sale. There may be several pre-emptive rights: for employees, for the municipality in certain cases, but also for a co-contractor, if you are a franchisee for example.

To purge a pre-emptive right, you must inform the person holding the pre-emptive right and wait a pre-determined period (usually two months) for them to come forward before you can sell.

However, to move more quickly, you can ask these people for certificates stating that they do not intend to acquire your business, leaving you free to proceed with the sale before the pre-emption period expires.
It is therefore particularly important to identify existing pre-emption rights early on in the process, in order to deal with this formality as a matter of priority.

3. Notify your Board as soon as possible

As a matter of economics, many company directors wait until they are as far along in the process as possible before notifying their lawyer.
However, in the event of a dispute, your lawyer will not have been able to review the letter of intent, or even the promise to sell.

If you try to make small savings, you could end up with big losses.
If you are planning to sell your business, we strongly recommend that you discuss the matter with your usual advisor as soon as possible.

What’s more, this will enable him to get organized and guarantee you maximum reactivity during the busy times of the transfer.

A well-prepared business sale can be completed quickly. Whether you have a simple project in mind, or the sale of your business is well advanced, you’ll save time by turning to a lawyer who specializes in this area.

Our firm, DESRUMAUX AVOCATS, is at your disposal to assist you in this particular operation.

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6 major advantages for adopting internal rules in your company

Whatever the size of your company, adopting a set of internal rules can transform your working environment and bring significant benefits. Here’s why you should take the plunge:

1. Reinforce Fairness and Transparency: Internal rules provide a clear structure for managing discipline, defining a system of sanctions that reflects your fair-minded approach. It prepares your employees to anticipate the consequences of their actions, propagating a respectful and collaborative working atmosphere.

Practical benefit: Employees are well informed of their rights and obligations, which prevents misunderstandings and facilitates problem-solving.

2. Be the Master of Operational Excellence: With internal regulations as your compass, clearly state your hygiene, health and safety standards. This promotes optimum adherence to protocols, minimizes incidents and boosts productivity.

Practical benefit: It reduces the risk of occupational accidents and illnesses, ensuring the protection of your employees and the peace of mind of your business.

3. Assert your corporate identity: The internal regulations are the mirror image of your company. In addition to highlighting specific details, they express your values, principles and expectations. It’s the ideal channel for conveying your company’s spirit and identity.

Practical benefit: It helps align employee behaviors with the company’s vision and objectives, thus facilitating the achievement of strategic goals.

4. Harmonize understanding : internal regulations ensure that company rules are clearly understood by all. They relieve employment contracts of repetitive standards, leaving room for job-specific clauses.

Practical benefit: It facilitates the integration of new employees and ensures better cooperation between teams thanks to a shared understanding of company rules.

5. Make internal regulations your CSR ally: Internal regulations are an invaluable support for your CSR actions. They can incorporate principles of eco-responsibility, respect for human rights and ethics, propelling your company towards a sustainable and respectful future.

Practical benefit: It enhances your reputation as a responsible company, attracting customers and talent who value ethics and sustainability.

6. Reinforce your corporate culture: internal regulations are the ideal tool for consolidating your corporate culture. Whether you want to encourage collaboration, innovation, diversity, integrity or other core values, they ensure that they are integrated and understood by all employees. This helps to attract and retain talent aligned with these same values, strengthening your team’s unity and performance.

Practical benefit: It helps improve employee engagement, foster a positive work environment and boost overall company performance.

Setting up internal regulations is simpler than it sounds. Once drawn up, all you have to do is send it to the labor inspectorate and the clerk’s office of the relevant industrial tribunal. Its flexibility allows you to modify it at any time, so that it always keeps pace with changes in your company.

Don’t wait any longer, take control of your company with well thought-out internal regulations!

Our firm, DESRUMAUX AVOCATS, is at your disposal to help you draw up and implement this essential document.