Service
Exit Readiness Review
Legal preparation before you go to market, so due diligence confirms your value instead of discounting it.
Know what you need? Request a fixed-fee quote and upload your documents. Not sure of scope? Book a short call with a senior lawyer instead.
In short
Exit readiness is the legal work done before a sale process begins, so that a buyer's due diligence confirms your story instead of discounting it. We review contracts, lease, IP, employment, corporate records and security, then give you a prioritised list of what to fix and what to disclose — for a fee agreed before we start.
Who this is for
- Owners planning a sale in the next one to three years.
- Founders approached by a strategic buyer or private equity and unsure what will be found.
- Businesses preparing for a management buy-out or family succession.
- Boards being told by an adviser or broker to "get the legals tidy" before going to market.
What we review
- Customer and supplier contracts. Are they signed, current, and assignable? Change-of-control and termination-on-assignment clauses are the most common value leak.
- Premises. Lease term, options, assignment process, personal guarantees, make-good and whether the Retail Leases Act applies.
- Intellectual property. Whether the selling entity actually owns the brand, software, designs and content — including work done by contractors and agencies — and whether trade marks are registered in the right name and classes.
- Employment. Written agreements, award coverage and classifications, contractor arrangements, entitlement accruals, restraints, and key-person retention.
- Corporate records. Share register, ASIC records, constitution, shareholders agreement, option and ESOP documents, trust deeds, minutes and consents needed to sell.
- Security and encumbrances. PPSR registrations, guarantees, loans, and whether anything must be discharged at completion.
- Compliance. Licences and registrations, privacy handling, consumer-law terms, and any open regulator or dispute exposure.
What you receive
- A findings report ranked by what a buyer will actually price: fix now, fix before market, disclose and manage.
- A list of the documents a buyer will request, and what is missing from your data room.
- The consents required to complete a sale, and who has to give them.
- A staged plan for remediation with realistic timing and scope for each item.
- A view on the warranty and indemnity exposure your current position creates.
How it runs
A 15-minute call to understand the business and your timeline. You upload the documents you have — securely, and nothing is required to be perfect. We confirm scope and a fixed fee before any work starts. The review is delivered as a written report with a walkthrough, and we then quote separately for any remediation you decide to do.
The engagement is confidential and can sit behind your accountant or corporate adviser, who often coordinates the wider process.
Why Envision Legal
We act for owner-managed and mid-market Australian businesses on both sides of sale transactions, so we know what buyers raise and what they use it for. Scope and fees are agreed before we start, you deal with a senior lawyer rather than a rotating team, and we work to your adviser's timetable. We respond to enquiries within one business day.
Frequently asked questions
What is exit readiness?
Getting the legal foundations of a business into a state where a buyer's due diligence produces no surprises. In practice that means assignable customer contracts, a secure lease, IP actually owned by the selling entity, compliant employment records, clean security registrations and corporate records that match reality.
How far ahead should we start?
Twelve to 24 months before a sale process is ideal, because the highest-value fixes take time — re-papering customer contracts, securing a lease option, formalising IP assignments from contractors, correcting long-standing employment classifications. Six months still helps. Starting during due diligence means fixing problems while the buyer holds the leverage.
Does legal clean-up actually change the price?
It more often protects the price than raises it. Unassignable contracts, undocumented IP, a lease with no remaining term or a contractor who should have been an employee all show up as price adjustments, wider warranties, higher escrow or a deferred payment tied to risk. Removing them removes the buyer's argument.
What do buyers find most often?
Change-of-control clauses in key customer contracts, IP developed by contractors without a written assignment, employment entitlements that were not accruing correctly, a lease expiring inside the buyer's investment horizon, and old PPSR registrations nobody discharged.
We may sell to management or family instead. Does this still apply?
Yes, and often more so. Internal and family transitions still need a defensible valuation basis, clean title to assets, resolved shareholder and trust documentation, and a considered position on tax and funding. The absence of an arm's-length buyer tends to hide problems rather than remove them.
Related
Two ways to start
Get a fixed fee before any work starts.
Answer a few short questions, attach your documents if you have them, and a senior lawyer replies with the scope and the price.
Know what you need? Request a fixed-fee quote and upload your documents. Not sure of scope? Book a short call with a senior lawyer instead.
Start with a scoping call
Tell us your timeline and we'll confirm scope and a fixed fee before any work begins.
Know what you need? Request a fixed-fee quote and upload your documents. Not sure of scope? Book a short call with a senior lawyer instead.