What to prepare before selling a business

After a group-level strategic reorganisation, I was asked to lead the sale of the plant I managed in China. It was a sound decision for the group, and my job was to make it work for everyone involved. I led the process in coordination with our group headquarters and key stakeholders, the lawyers and the private bankers. I met potential investors from the United States, China and elsewhere, and represented the company throughout.

I am sharing the lessons, not the deal.

What I would prepare first

1. A clean story. What the business does, for whom, and why it is valuable to someone else. Write it in two pages. If it takes more, the business is not yet well understood from the inside either.
2. A data room that tells the truth. Contracts, permits, equipment, people, finance. Gaps found by you are problems. Gaps found by a buyer are doubts, and doubts spread to the parts that were fine.
3. A single point of contact. One person who knows the whole business and keeps the process moving between advisers, bidders and the team. Without that person, each question goes round in circles.
4. A communication plan for the staff. Honest, early and repeated. People can handle news. They cannot handle silence.

Running the day job at the same time

A sale does not pause the business. Customers still order, lines still run, and the team still needs a manager who is present. I found it useful to separate the two clearly: a short, regular rhythm for the sale process, and an unchanged rhythm for the plant. The second one is what keeps the value of the first.

The part no spreadsheet shows

A business is its people. The way a sale is handled stays in the memory of the team long after the paperwork. I am grateful to the colleagues who made it go well. Their professionalism is the reason I can write this note.

A question to keep

If you were preparing a business for sale tomorrow, what would worry you most?