Selling a business in New Zealand

How we sell your business

Sell My Business NZ is a New Zealand business brokerage with connections to buyers, advisers and brokers across the country and offshore. Those connections give your business wide exposure to the right people, while the identity of the business stays confidential until a buyer has been qualified and has signed a confidentiality agreement.

We start with a market appraisal, so you know what buyers are likely to pay before you decide anything. Where a formal valuation is required for tax, legal or shareholder purposes, we will point you to a chartered accountant or registered valuer, and work alongside them.

If you want the full picture before you call anyone, our guide on how to sell a business in NZ walks through every step, and preparing your business for sale covers the changes that lift the price in the year before you list.

If you are thinking about selling, here is what our team does for you:

• Spend time understanding your business, your numbers and what you want from the sale
• Appraise the business against comparable New Zealand sales and agree an asking price with you
• Explain the whole transfer process up front, including what buyers and their lenders will ask for
• Prepare a confidential information memorandum that tells the story of the business and sets out the deal structure
• Market the opportunity to our buyer database and the wider market without naming the business
• Qualify every buyer, manage confidentiality agreements and handle first-round questions so your day is not interrupted
• Negotiate offers and conditions, then coordinate due diligence so each condition is cleared in order
• Work with both sides' lawyers and accountants through to an unconditional agreement and settlement

The seven stages of a sale

Every member of our team has owned or managed a business, so we know what it feels like to be on your side of the table. These are the stages we take every seller through.

1. Prepare a detailed information memorandum
2. Appraise the business and set the asking price
3. Build a marketing plan that fits the likely buyer
4. Run the campaign and qualify every enquiry
5. Negotiate the offer and the sale and purchase agreement
6. Coordinate due diligence and clear conditions
7. Settle, with finance, leases and handover in place

What sellers get from us

Selling a business is exciting and complicated in equal measure. We think the first few weeks decide most of the outcome, so we spend them getting the foundations right.

• A written market appraisal so the business is priced to sell, not to sit on the market
• A professional information memorandum that presents the business the way a buyer wants to see it
• A marketing plan built around the type of buyer most likely to pay the best price, whether that is a local operator, an investor or a trade buyer
• Buyer introductions to bank and finance contacts, which often reduces the need for vendor finance
• One point of contact from first meeting to settlement

Still weighing up whether to use a broker at all? Read our honest comparison of a broker versus a private sale.

Talk to us about selling