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Having decided to sell your business, we will require you to sign an exclusive sales agreement. This document outlines the price we think we can get for the pharmacy, the length of the agency agreement and the commission we will charge you for handling the sale process.

We will then undertake a full appraisal of the pharmacy and produce an Information Memorandum. (IM) The purchaser's accountant uses the IM to asses the business's initial valuation which forms the basis of their offer.

Before the IM is sent to a prospective purchaser, a Confidentiality Agreement (CA) must be filled out, signed and returned by the purchaser. This prevents the purchaser from disclosing the contents of the IM to anyone except their professional advisors.

Once the purchaser is ready to make an offer, we will send them an Offer Document or Heads of Agreement. This sets out the basic parameters of the sale, such as price, stock value, expected settlement date, and certain other caveats, such as, subject to finance, transfer of lease, etc. If agreed, both parties sign the offer document, and the purchaser pays an initial deposit. This is held in Rx Pharmacy Brokers trust account. At this point, the vendor and purchaser exchange details via Sales Advice. This document contains details of the vendor, purchaser and their accountants and solicitors. The sales advice and the offer document are sent to the accountants and solicitors, and the contract process begins.

The buyer has 21 days to perform the pharmacy's financial and legal due diligence. The 21 days start from the date on which all requested material reaches the purchaser's solicitor and accountant. This is often the most challenging time for the vendor this is a lot of work. During financial due diligence, the purchaser should receive provisional approval for their finance.

After 21 days, when due diligence is completed, and the purchaser is happy to proceed with the purchase, the vendor then, at his cost, gets his solicitor to draw up a Contract of sale.

The solicitors on both sides negotiate the contract of sale. Once agreed upon, a final draft is completed and signed by both purchaser and vendor. A last deposit is paid, and both are held in our trust account. At this point, the process becomes unconditional.

The vendor and the purchaser work together to transfer the lease into the purchaser's name. This cost falls to the purchaser. The purchaser and the vendor also work collaboratively to get the Department Of Health and Pharmacy board approval for the purchaser.

In normal circumstances, the sale of a pharmacy may take 16 to 20 weeks or possibly more. Public Holidays, Easter and particularly Christmas, may lengthen this process. Solicitors who are not familiar with the pharmacy sales process are usually slower.