Sales and divestitures

Your deal journey

Sell or divest a company

Selling or divesting a business requires careful planning and thoughtful execution. It’s an opportunity to look ahead and create a path to value, but the process can be high-stakes, emotional and fraught with financial uncertainty.

That’s where we come in. Our days are spent helping clients assess the implications of their divestiture across their business from any point in the deal spectrum—from day-one readiness planning to implementation of the deal and post-separation transition.

Whether you’re exploring a sale for succession, or wanting to spin off or sell a piece of your business, we can be your trusted adviser, every step of the way. Our deep industry experience and advanced analytics tools give you greater insight into the options and opportunities you face.

Step 1: Sale readiness

I want to…

Assess my options for sale
Assess my options if I’m having financial troubles
Explore succession planning
Value my business and understand what I can sell
Identify issues that affect price or a buyer’s acquisition decision
Understand the value implications of my next move
Establish an effective tax strategy for the sale

Assess my options for sale

Clarify your options for sale and formalize your new strategy with the help of our corporate finance team. Commercial due diligence can also give you insight into the competitive environment and current market demand for businesses like yours.

Assess my options if I’m having financial troubles

Evaluate your financial and growth forecasts with a lead financial adviser. Develop options to restructure in order to sell or carve out your business to improve value for you and your stakeholders.

Explore succession planning

Examine and evaluate your options with our corporate finance and private company services team, whether you’re passing your organization down within the family, transferring it to non-family managers or selling it to an outside purchaser.

Value my business and understand what I can sell

Get the data you need to value your business and forecast when a sale is right for you. Our financial models and advanced data analytics tools provide you with data-driven insights to help in your financial and operational decision-making.

Identify issues that affect price or a buyer’s acquisition decision

Conduct HR due diligence to establish and understand existing HR and workforce issues that are critical early in the transaction, identify their relevance and level of impact, and ensure appropriate projections are either accounted for or addressed with the buyer as part of the transaction.

Understand the value implications of my next move

Conduct scenario testing and analysis with the help of our strategic value consulting team to understand the potential value of your business that remains after a divestiture.

Establish an effective tax strategy for the sale

Understand the tax consequences of your divestiture, including the implications of an asset or share-based transaction and other planning opportunities so you get the most out of your deal.

Step 2: Deal execution

I want to…

Get market-ready and find potential buyers
Identify the opportunities to drive increased value and mitigate potential value risks
Prepare my accounting for the sale
Structure the deal and negotiate terms
Withstand stakeholder scrutiny
Prepare my operations for day 1 post-sale
Be prepared to manage my internal and external stakeholders through the transition

Get market-ready and find potential buyers

Develop your sale mandate and source potential buyers around the world with the help of our corporate finance team.

Identify the opportunities to drive increased value and mitigate potential value risks

Undertake sell side due diligence in the areas that will impact value, including commercial, financial, tax, reputational, IT, operations and human capital.

Prepare my accounting for the sale

Determine the accounting implications of your divestiture. Our accounting advisory services can help prepare the often complex carve-out financial statements required so that all your assets and liabilities are identified and you meet buyer expectations and local M&A accounting standards.

Structure the deal and negotiate terms

Get corporate finance support to negotiate more favourable terms.

Withstand stakeholder scrutiny

Get third-party financial advice about the fairness of your transaction. Provide your board with the insight they need to make informed decisions about proposed transactions and avoid litigation, with tools including fairness opinions and goodwill impairment testing.

Prepare my operations for day 1 post-sale

Reduce disruptions and unforeseen costs to your existing business. Understand how what your selling impacts the remaining business, and mitigate any management, operational, technology or human capital risks with help from our delivering deals value and People in Deals teams.

Be prepared to manage my internal and external stakeholders through the transition

Build a strategy to support your organization through HR pre-close, including communication and stakeholder engagement plans and tailored transition plans for specific stakeholder groups.

Step 3: Post-deal

I want to…

Confirm I received what I expected from the sale
Ensure retained workforce is engaged and aligned with post-sale organization
Maintain a smooth transition
Prepare or respond to post-deal disputes and litigation

Confirm I received what I expected from the sale

Get what’s owed to you from the execution of the sale and purchase agreement with the help of our transaction services team.

Ensure retained workforce is engaged and aligned with post-sale organization

Support your organization post-close with active stakeholder engagement and communications, culture and employee sentiment pulse check, and HR function review to ensure alignment with in the organization post-divestiture.

Maintain a smooth transition

Achieve your post-deal value realization goals with help from our delivering deals value and People in Deals teams.

Prepare or respond to post-deal disputes and litigation

Get help from our dispute advisory services in preparing claims and providing expert reports in the case of noncompliance or misrepresentation in the sale and purchase agreement.