Our SME deals team advises SMEs, owner-managed businesses, entrepreneurs and management teams on buying and selling business & companies, management buyouts and other corporate transactions with clear, commercial and pragmatic advice.
Birketts’ SME deals team gives business owners, buyers and management teams access to practical corporate advice, responsive project management supported by the wider capability of a full-service law firm.
We advise on share sales and purchases, business and asset sales and purchases, management buyouts and buy-ins, franchise acquisitions and resales and other corporate transactions.
We advise on all documentation involved in the process including heads of terms, exclusivity arrangements, confidentiality agreement, legal due diligence, disclosure, the sale and purchase agreement, other transactional documentation and the completion mechanics.
We coordinate advice required from the other Birketts’ specialist teams including tax, employment, real estate, banking & finance, commercial and regulatory matters, ensuring that the right specialists are involved when needed.
Our approach is built around and tailored to the requirements of the particular transaction. It’s not a one-size-fits-all process. We agree a clear scope and fee basis at the outset, focus diligence and negotiation on the issues that fit with the requirements of the client and the client’s appetite for risk. We clearly explain the legal position in respect of issues that arise in understandable straightforward terms providing recommendations allowing our clients to make informed decisions.
We support SMEs and owner-managed businesses across a wide range of sectors, including professional services, food, healthcare and dental practices, technology, manufacturing, education, hospitality and leisure, automotive services and franchise networks.
Our Experience
Creative business sale to a management team
Advised an award-winning creative business on the sale of part of its operations to an in-house management team. The transaction required a practical management buyout structure, focused transactional documents and close coordination with the client throughout. Our team kept the process proportionate and commercially focused while supporting continuityunder the new ownership team.
£1.2 million technical and engineering services asset sale
Advised on the £1.2 million asset sale of a technical and engineering services business. We managed the business transfer documentation and coordinated the legal workstreams needed to move the transaction to completion. The matter demonstrates our experience of selling a business through an asset sale and tailoring the process to the commercial priorities of an owner-managed company.
Connected automotive business acquisitions
Advised on the acquisition of a fleet-care business alongside a related asset acquisition, bringing two connected elements into one coordinated transaction. We supported the buyer on structure, legal due diligence, transaction documents and completion. The work shows how our SME Deals Team can manage linked business acquisitions without allowing the process to become unnecessarily fragmented or costly.
Key Contacts
The team listens and takes on board the objectives trying to be facilitated, finding the right structure to best ‘fit’ the circumstance. They work closely with other professionals in order to achieve this. By which I mean the client is put first.
Legal 500 [UK 2026]