Specialist legal advice on mergers & acquisitions and business growth planning

Getting your business to the stage where you are ready to expand through mergers and acquisitions or move into new markets is exciting and comes with a new set of challenges. You may have settled into a steady rhythm and a transition to more responsibilities and obligations may mean venturing into unknown territory. The stakes get higher and the rewards greater, particularly if you are a high growth business and your business is changing quickly.

Our lawyers work with growing and expanding businesses, guiding them through significant periods of change. We will listen to you so we understand your strategy, ensuring that our business growth planning advice compliments your long-term goals. Our experience allows us to guide you through step by step, while never taking our eye off the bigger picture.

Working with lawyers who are responsive to your needs and take time to understand what is important to you can make a real difference to the long-term success of your business. As a full-service law firm, we can draw on expertise from across Clarke Willmott to provide you with all the legal advice your business needs at the beginning and through its lifecycle.

How we can help you

Business expansion planning

Whether through internal growth, merger or external acquisition, you may reach a point where the existing structure of your business or its commercial agreements are not adequate for the future you have planned. Our corporate and commercial solicitors can help you review your business’s current position and advise what steps you can take to support future growth.

Our expertise includes:

• Advising on corporate acquisitions and mergers
• Employee ownership trusts
• Corporate restructuring and reorganisation
• Reviewing and negotiating commercial agreements, including terms and conditions
• Fundraising, in relation to both debt and private equity investment
• Drafting and amending shareholder agreements

Intellectual property and technology

As your business grows, it is likely that its intellectual property and technology needs will too. Having the right protection in place is an ongoing process as the challenges you face will change. Our intellectual property lawyers are experts in UK and EU intellectual property law.

Our expertise includes:

• Developing brand protection programmes, including anti-counterfeiting strategies
• Resolving intellectual property disputes, including defending and making passing off claims
• Advising on copyright ownership and protection
• Joint ventures that include intellectual property
• Drafting and negotiating large scale ICT acquisition contracts, including appropriate service level agreements

Commercial property considerations

The commercial property needs of a business change through its lifecycle and sometimes these changes are needed sooner than expected. Our commercial property lawyers can help you navigate your property agreements and ensure your business has a secure home to support its growth.

Our expertise includes:

• Acquiring or selling premises
• Acting on break clauses in property contracts
• Resolving property disputes
• Tenant lease portfolio management

Employment and HR strategy

As your business grows, the demands on you as an employer will too. Our Employment and HR team can ensure that you have all the agreements, policies and procedures in place to protect your business and its employees.

Our expertise includes:

• Expanding HR policy and practice
• Advising on restructuring and reorganisation projects to support growth and corporate transactions, including TUPE
• Making board level appointments and drafting agreements, including restrictive covenants
• Outsourcing and insourcing HR projects
• Resolving employment disputes

International aspects of business growth planning

We can also advise you on international matters, including investing in UK or overseas business ventures, expanding overseas and business immigration.

Protecting your wealth

As your business grows, it is important to ensure that your personal affairs in order and that any legal documentation you have in place represents your current situation. Our private wealth specialists can help you draft or update your will, put in place power of attorneys and make plans for what should happen to your business should you die unexpectedly or become incapacitated.

Contact a solicitor now for legal advice

For a free, no-obligation chat, request a call back or contact one of specialist corporate lawyers for expert advice on business expansion, mergers and acquisitions.

Clarke Willmott has offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton.