If you’re interested in buying a business, you need to know exactly what you’re purchasing. It is very important to do your due diligence. You need to ask yourself what type of business you want, why that businesses for sale, what your goals are for the business and what you’re going to get when you make the purchase.
At a time like this, it can be important to get advice from experienced professionals. You don’t want to overlook something. This is a major investment and you need things to go smoothly so that you can get a good return on that investment.
Do you get to use all the branding?
First of all, you need to know if you’re going to have a right to all of the different branding and intellectual property. Can you use the same company name? Do you get to use the same color schemes and logos? You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you believed you were buying exclusive rights to everything that the business entailed but the other person thought they were just selling you their physical assets.
What assets are there?
Of course, physical assets are also important, so you need to know exactly what assets there are. This could include things like an inventory of products that haven’t sold yet or a supply of parts and materials that can be used to make more products. You also need to know about any real estate that you’re purchasing, whether it’s a main office building, a physical store location or a warehouse with supplies and materials.
Are you buying the debt too?
If the business had a lot of debt and liabilities, you need to know if you’re going to take them on when you assume control. Are you now responsible for any of these debts? Are you buying both the debts and the assets at the same time, or can you choose to simply buy the assets and allow the debt to stay with the other owner? If you do take on the debt, would you be personally liable for any of it or does all of that. stay with the business?
Navigating the process
You can see that there is a lot to think about when purchasing a business, so make sure you know how to move smoothly through this process and that you understand your legal options.