One of the first questions that a buyer will ask when a business is for sale is “Why are they selling?”.

In 2002, Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team, was faced with the departure of star players and a limited budget to replace them. He realised that if he was going to look for players using the same metrics as all the other teams, he was going to find the same players that every other team did and be outbid every time. His solution was to find and use new metrics (Sabermetrics), in order to find underappreciated and affordable players and create a winning team from them.

When a practice owner is looking to sell their practice, they will often put off telling their staff about the sale for as long as possible.  There are many reasons for this. Sometimes (often) they won’t want to tell the staff at all until after a deal has been locked in with a buyer.

It is quite common for practice owners to be fearful of how the staff will react if they learn that their practice is for sale.

If you are looking at buying a veterinary practice, it is likely that you will be asked to sign a Confidentiality Agreement or Non-Disclosure Agreement at some stage. 

Once a Vet has decided that they want to be their own boss and own a vet practice, the next question that they face is “should I buy an existing practice or set one up from scratch?”

When a practice is valued, it is often for goodwill and equipment, “plus stock”. That is to say, the stock levels will be determined closer to settlement and an amount added to the valuation to compensate the vendor for the stock that will be onsite at the date of transfer.

In October 2019, a bottle of The Macallan Fine and Rare whisky sold at auction for $US1.9 million, becoming the most expensive bottle of wine or spirit ever auctioned. This whisky was bottled in 1986, after maturing for six decades in European Oak at Macallan's distillery near the River Spey in Scotland. The cask this bottle was from has produced six record-setting bottles, beginning in 1986 when the first one was sold in New York, winning the Guinness Record at the time for "The World's Most Expensive Spirit".

So, you’ve decided to sell your practice and after years of blood, sweat and tears, doing whatever’s necessary to build it into the success it has become, you want to make sure you get top dollar for it.

Any business is made up of both tangible assets (those that you can see and touch, like equipment, fit-out and furniture) and intangible assets (like goodwill, brand recognition and intellectual property).