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Asset and Land Sales and Purchases – Acquisitions – General Business Advice – Leasing Business Premises – Intellectual Property – Restructuring
Sound and professional Commercial Law Services are vital to your business. We know how important it is for your business that your transaction proceeds in a smooth and timely fashion. We will do our best to deliver on your objectives.
Asset and Land Sales and Purchases
If you are buying or selling premises or business assets we can advise on all aspects of the sale or purchase agreement and deal with any associated finance. We have a wealth of experience in dealing with all kinds of transactions from straightforward units to large scale commercial developments remortgages and property portfolios. The issues we deal with are often complex, we specialise in advising you where your red lines should be and what you should expect in transactions of this nature. Our commercial team have a depth of experience which we do not believe is surpassed in Mid Wales.
Acquisitions
Acquiring a new business is a stressful process, before you even involve us you will have done your ground work and usually reached a heads of agreement stage, if you haven’t we can help with the pre legal process by drafting confidentiality agreements to protect your business information at the negotiation stage, we can assist with drafting heads of agreement and the pre agreement stage. We can then take it through to completion by drafting and obtaining approval of the overarching agreement which will govern the sale or purchase. This document is tailored to your business needs and deals with protecting you and your business in the sale or purchase. As well as all the important things such as the price and timing of payment it will deal with employee’s rights and who is liable for them; indemnifying you against claims that are brought after you have purchased but which had arisen before the purchase; guarantees in respect of any delayed purchase price; the terms which govern stock takes and the like and much more. Our aim is to ensure that we take as much of the stress out of the situation for you as we can. We have a dedicated employment team who support our commercial lawyers in respect of the transfer of employees in these situations. The Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employees) Regulations are engaged very often in this process and whichever side of the fence you are on you will need to be advised of your obligations and the risk to your business of getting it wrong.
General Business Advice
Our commercial team have substantial experience in handling all of the legal aspects a business could be expected to face – whether a start up or a Plc. We gain unrivalled access to business directors and managers and talk them through their options and what best practice dictates. We are solution orientated and will ensure your deal gets done. If it’s a situation you don’t know how to resolve just give us a call and we will assist – if we can’t we will always know someone who can.
Leasing Business Premises
Alternatively you may look to rent premises by either buying an existing lease or entering into a new lease. Business leases do not tend to be in a standard form as the terms when they are set up are subject to much greater negotiation. Accordingly the issues you will need to consider are significantly more involved than for residential leases.
We can either advise you on and conduct those negotiations or advise you on the terms of an existing lease including:
- The duration and break clauses
- Rent Reviews
- Service Charges
- Tenant security of tenure
- Selling or sub-letting the lease
- Security for the rent and guarantees
Getting the rights terms for you will either ensure adequate control of the Property if you are a Landlord or that you are not unduly burdened or restricted as a Tenant. Understanding the terms and your rights at the outset can avoid costly litigation or forced negotiation at a later date.
Intellectual Property
You have done all that hard work, you’ve found that niche area or piece of software or practice that has made your business successful. Understandably you will want to protect that, we can assist you with this process, we can assist you with protecting your Intellectual Property from being stolen, we can represent you if others have tried to pass off your work as their own and with our employment department we can ensure you have the safe guards in place to protect your trade secrets and confidential information.
Restructuring
We can walk you through the structures that you can put in place to ensure your business has that overarching governance that can lead to taking your business to the next stage. We will engage with your accountant to ensure that your structure is suitable from a taxation perspective and is fit for purpose generally.
At Harrisons we understand that communication is the key to ensuring that the transaction proceeds as smoothly as possible from your first contact with us through to getting you into the premises. Our team will be happy to advise you on any aspect of commercial law.
We are happy to discuss the likely costs of your proposed transaction and always provide a written estimate of the likely cost to you in terms of our fees and the other expenses you will incur such as a Energy Performance Certificates, Search Fees, Stamp Duty, Land Registry fees etc.
