Business for Sale Blog - News and views on buying and selling businesses

We have noticed that a number of large European businesses have put some of their assets on the market. These include Italian Oil Giant Eni, which has hired Rothschild to sell most of its North Sea fields for more than $1bn. The fields that are up for sale are producing about 20,000 barrels a day and contain about 120 million barrels of oil reserves. World leading brewing… Continue reading

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It’s rare to see a large business being advertised for sale on its own website, especially with the price-tag advertised. But here it is… Continue reading

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One of the possibly unintended consequences of the chancellor’s recent Budget 50% tax rate hike is the encouragement of private and family businesses to keep their profits within the business.

Although withdrawing money from a company attracts corporation tax at 25%, if that then goes into a personal account it is taxed at 40% to 50% for higher rate tax payers (the 50% rate effective for those earning over… Continue reading

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In this month’s (June 2009) issue of the Business Sale Report, we feature an exclusive interview with Luke Johnson, the serial entrepreneur who made his first big move with the purchase, with Hugh Osmond, of Pizza Express back in 1993 for £15 million.

Since then Luke has owned or part-owned over twenty businesses covering industries ranging from dentistry to retailing and recruitment.

In 2000, Luke set up Risk Capital… Continue reading

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Recently, we have seen investors looking to get back into the property game. Countrywide, the estate agency group, is to begin the search for acquisitions after its investors strengthened its balance sheet with £37.5m following on from its recent debt restructuring. It was reported in the Sunday Telegraph that Countrywide has £75m ready money to purchase businesses. The company has grown primarily through acquisitions. The strategy will… Continue reading

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More than a third of management buyouts in the UK since the start of the year occurred at companies in administration, as private-equity firms target failed businesses. Private equity firms with cash and those less reliant on debt have been particularly successful in this regard.

Research on the first quarter of 2009 by the Centre for Management Buyout Research (CMBOR) shows companies in administration surpassed family-owned and closely held businesses… Continue reading

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Peter Harkness and his business partner, Owen Davies, bought Highbury Communications, the North London-based publisher of many well-known newsstand magazines out of administration in 2006. The businesses downfall occurred after it had taken on too much debt - some �26m. This debt was mainly due to some disastrous acquisitions and the overly… Continue reading

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Another household name looks like it might join the list of companies that have gone insolvent. Team Group who rescued Pickfords, the removals business, last year has reportedly brought in Deloitte, the accountancy firm, to advise on all possible options to stave off collapse of the removals firm. Pickfords has run into trouble in the wake of the housing-market collapse. However, according to the Sunday Times the… Continue reading

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Now that spring is in the air you would be forgiven for turning your attention to more summery pursuits. However, the owners of Scotland’s oldest ski centre have decided spring is the time to get people with money interested in buying the resort which is based in the ski fields of Glen Coe.
The owners of Glencoe Mountain Resort hope to add a gondola system and create areas for mountain… Continue reading

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UK warehouses company Brixton is reportedly looking to sell off some of its major assets, in a bid to raise cash to pay off debts.

The company owns warehouses at Park Royal and Heathrow, though it is unclear at this stage as to which properties will be earmarked for sale.

On March 3rd, the company announced that Peter Dawson, formerly Brixton’s Investment Director, was… Continue reading

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