Opinion: Olly Laughton-Scott on selling up successfully
Intelligent selling: It’s easy to take a wrong turn when selling your business. To help brokers avoid the pitfalls, Olly Laughton-Scott explains a few things he’s learnt from his 25 years’ M&A experience
“I have discussed it with the board and we can’t pay more,” were Colin’s exact words. When I phoned him to say we were selling to another party his immediate response was: “Can we pay more?”
“No,” I replied. That was over 20 years ago but I have had a very similar conversation in the last couple of months although, as the situation was very different, so was the result.
There is no substitute for competitive tension. Only when a buyer is faced with the prospect of losing a transaction do they
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