Buying / Selling a business and Succession.


You’re thinking of starting your own business or extending your present business?  Most people think of beginning from scratch--developing their own ideas and building the company from the ground up.  But this presents you with a few problems, e.g. difficulty of building a customer base, marketing the new business, hiring employees and establishing cash flow. . . all without a track record or reputation to go on.

Developing your present business has similar problems.  It takes time and your competitors may be in your way.  In fact, they will do everything to slow you down.

If you've decided to buy an existing business, you want to be sure you're making the right choice in your venture. Only you can determine the right business for your needs; however, The Synergy Group can help you with your choices.

We will bring you through the process of choosing your business to buy, negotiating with the seller, doing your research, analysing and interpreting the figures, doing your future projections and plans and finally looking after the legalities. 

It’s a confusing area and you can be excused for being bamboozled.  However, your future depends on your choices, so you have to stack the odds in your favour.


Selling a business is not as simple as making a decision to sell, putting an ad in the paper and selling.  Remember you only sell your business once and you want to make sure you get as much as possible for it.

You need to prepare well in advance, and in many cases, years in advance. You have to ask yourself some questions, e.g.

  • Can your business be sold? Can it be sold now?
  • Are you ready to sell?  Why are you selling? What will you do for money when you sell?  What will you do with your time?
  • What is your business worth?  Is it worth more today or at some time in the future?  How it is valued?
  • How do I prepare the business for sale? How do I increase its value? What will the buyers look for?
  • How do I let it be known I’m selling the business?  If it is generally known I’m selling my business, will sales decrease?  Do I need a broker?
  • How do I prepare the sale prospectus?  What goes into it? How long should it be?
  • How do I make sure the buyers are genuine?  You don’t want to waste your time and give away valuable and often secret information to people who cannot or won’t complete the transaction.
  • How do I negotiate a good deal?  Do you want a straight deal or are you prepared to stay with the business for a while, maybe a few years? If yes, will you accept a percentage of sales or some other calculation?
  • Do you have an exit strategy?

Succession Planning

You want to retire or you want to reduce your involvement in your business.  Succession planning is the process of developing your internal people with leadership capability to take over particular roles.  Many larger companies carry out succession planning as part of their core ethos, thereby strengthening their management team. 

The smaller company, which is generally owner managed, does not normally prepare well.  This could be due to the psychological issues relating to entrepreneurship whereby the owner thinks that they are the only person to run their business and no-one else can do it better.

Succession planning could also be the process of developing your partners or siblings to take over.  This has its own problems on both sides, e.g. resentment by some or all who have not been chosen.

You need to decide on what you want to do and who is most capable to take over.  You have to prepare them in advance, measure their improvement and generally make sure they have the skills.  You have to examine whether you are the right person to do this because you may be too close to it. In many situations, it is better on both sides, if you engage a professional consultant.

What The Synergy Group can do for you:

  • Help you choose your business to buy.
  • Assess its potential to meet your needs.
  • Examine the problems it brings with it, e.g. staffing, reputation, location, etc.
  • Bring you through the buying process.
  • Prepare you and your new business for the future.
  • Help you to prepare your business for sale.
  • Help you to negotiate the buying and selling price.
  • Bring you through the broker process, if you choose this method.
  • Help you with your succession planning
  • If you wish, stay with you after the deal is done in any of the three scenarios.


T: +353 1 8215189
M: +353 87 2326927


Office Premises
Synergy House
10, Oakview Drive
Dublin 15

Contact Info

Tel: +353 (0)1 8215189
Mobile: +353 (0)87 2326927
Email: info@synergy.ie

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