Family First - Exit Strategies 

Exit strategies are really important for family businesses, because quite often the generation of the family of its next in line don’t want to continue in the business, and you can get a better price if you consider an exit strategy.

You need to be thinking now, very early, about have you got the right people to take the business forward and have you got the right systems in place in order to make your buyer find the business attractive.

They need to make up their minds whether they’re going to sell to another trade buyer or sell to a private equity house, and those decisions can be really important.

If you want to be financially secure going forward but you don’t want to exit. What you need to do is factory your personal objectives into the business objectives and make sure that succession works for you.

As a family business considering selling, you need to think about tax, you need to think about financial planning, but most of all think about what you want to achieve on your personal objectives.

The Family First approach in KPMG is different because we’re a one stop shop for family companies. We look at the whole family culture and everything the family business needs in order to be successful going forward.

I’ve spent the last 20 years advising family companies and I feel really passionate about that market sector, and if I had one thing to say, if you’re thinking about exit, it’s never too early to start.