The questions to ask any buyer, including us

Fifteen questions about your clients, the transaction and the buying firm.

7 min read · Guide for advisers

Prepare the questions you will ask a buyer as carefully as the answers you will give.

1

About your clients

  1. Who advises this client in three years, and do they work for you now? If the answer is a job title with no name, the role has not yet been filled.
  2. What is the ongoing fee they will pay, and does it change after completion? Ask for it in pounds on an actual example.
  3. What happens to the smallest clients? This question tells you the most. Your firm may have households below the level at which an ongoing service pays for itself. How a buyer answers this question shows how they will treat everyone else.
  4. Will they move platform, and who pays for it?
  5. How will they be told, by whom, and when?
2

About the transaction

  1. What proportion is paid up front, and what is deferred?
  2. What is the deferred amount contingent on, and who controls those things? Retention targets are reasonable. Retention targets you cannot influence after you have left are a risk to you.
  3. What happens to the price if a large client leaves for reasons unconnected to the sale?
  4. What warranties am I giving, for how long, and capped at what?
  5. Who has approved this, and what still needs sign-off?
3

About the firm buying

  1. Who owns you, and what do they want in five years? A firm with private-equity backing on a five-year cycle may sell again. Its answer tells you what happens to your clients at the next transaction.
  2. How many acquisitions have you completed, and can I speak to two principals who sold to you? Ask for names, preferably including a principal who sold more than two years ago.
  3. What happens to my staff, and when is that decided?
  4. What is your complaints record on acquired books?
  5. What would make you walk away from this? A buyer who cannot answer has not thought about it, or is not telling you.
4

Ask us the same fifteen

Ask them on the first call. Some answers are already set out here: the fee position, what happens if terms cannot be agreed, and who advises afterwards. The rest depend on your clients and your firm, and Steven will go through them with you.

If the answers show that an immediate sale, or staying as you are, suits you better than a staged arrangement, we will tell you.

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Talk to Steven Bates about Securo

Steven Bates, Director of Advisory at Equity & General, takes the first call with every adviser. Ring him on 020 8396 0486 or send a short note about your firm.

Send a note to Steven 020 8396 0486