We’ve come to the end of our 7-part series on selling an emerging growth company, and now it’s time to seal the deal. The closing is the crucial final step in the sale, where ownership of your company officially changes hands.
The actual closing is a fairly straightforward affair, and not unlike the closing of a real estate purchase. Two main things will happen. First, the finalized deal documents, signed by all relevant parties, are exchanged. The signing may take place at the closing, but in some instances, the documents may be signed ahead of time. Second, the buyer pays the agreed purchase price to the seller. Once these two things are done, the business officially belongs to the buyer. [Read more…]
We are almost at the end of our 7-part series on selling an emerging growth company, and we have reached the stage of drafting and negotiating the definitive agreement. When we talk about the “definitive agreement” in the context of a sale of an emerging growth company, this usually refers to an asset purchase or stock purchase agreement as part of an acquisition, but when there is a true merger of the acquirer and target, the definitive agreement will be the merger agreement. The actual drafting and negotiating done by your attorney and your acquirer’s attorneys may not be all that exciting, but, for you, the owner of the target (which I’ll refer to in this post as the seller), this means you are hopefully well on your way to a successful closing. 
