Corporate advisers

Sometimes company exit plans fall by the wayside because the seller discovers the net proceeds from the sale will not fund their (semi) retirement plans, support reinvestment objectives or finance a buy-to-let portfolio.

There are three stages when clients of corporate advisers can need wealth management support:

• Pre-transaction: At the early days of thinking about an exit, shareholders often don’t know how much money they will need for a ‘lifestyle fund’ following the sale of their company. It is important to focus on the lifestyle they would like to have, and use a cash flow modelling service to answer key questions such as “how much money can I actually sell my business for, in order to (semi) retire?”
• Transaction readiness: As lead advisers and your client organise the business and its key assets for sale, you will need to consider the effects pre-existing tax structures may have on a transaction and provide pensions advice they may need to consider the right insurance products, shareholder protection and key person insurance.
• Post-transaction: At this stage your clients typically have to consider how to put the proceeds from the sale to best use. While many clients reinvest into other ventures they rarely put all their eggs in one basket and therefore need advice on how to invest at least a proportion of their wealth.