Possible Sale of Company

KeirH · 17 January 2018 at 3:59PM

Hi All,

I've been employed in a quite senior role at my company for nearly four years. I have been aware from the outset that there's a good chance the company could be sold to a larger firm, and now the process seems to be gathering pace. I expect the company will be sold by summer.

My role is very varied, and there is every chance any acquiring company would have entire departments taking care of any number of my duties. Once the new management has gleaned what they can from me, I expect I'd be surplus to requirements.

I am uniquely placed in the company - I know what plans are afoot and can plan to get what I can out of the situation. I'm starting to get carried away with myself and imagining a monster pay out which would help me start afresh.

I am trying to stay realistic about my prospects, and would be perfectly willing to cooperate with any new bosses. My question is, if redundancy could be on the cards sooner or later, how would you go about ensuring the best possible deal in advance of a redundancy situation.

Should I approach new management immediately or sit tight?

I am concerned that showing willingness to handover and go quietly too early might put me in a weak position. My aim is to go with as much as I can get to take the pressure of finding my next position and possibly retraining entirely.

Any forum members have any experience of these types of negotiation after a company has sold?

Any advice welcome.

Comms69 · 17 January 2018 at 4:23PM

What are your current redundancy terms?

I'm not sure why you expect to get more than that to be honest

LABMAN · 17 January 2018 at 4:25PM

I once thought I was uniquely placed in a Company I worked for 16 years. After a 30 minute discussion I was made redundant and asked to leave immediately. Nobody is irreplaceable.

KeirH · 17 January 2018 at 4:45PM

Thanks for your replies.

For clarity I don't think I'm entitled to any enhanced package, and know only too well that nobody is irreplaceable.

I'm just wondering if there are any forum members with advice about how best to position oneself tactically.

I'd have a notice period of 3 months. Obviously I am pre-empting a redundancy situation here, and have no idea what any future employer would offer in terms of enhancements, if any.

ReadingTim · 17 January 2018 at 6:39PM

I would sit tight - if you made it known you were hoping to leave, they might decide to only pay you statutory (which won't be a huge amount for less than 4 years' service), or even keep you on and hope you resign of your own accord - both options being considerably cheaper than a "monster payout" from the perspective of the new company.

At this stage, you don't know if the company will even be sold, let alone the generosity/attitude of the acquiring company towards the subsequent integration therefore there are simply too many unknown variables to preempt. Unless or until you have more concrete information, you can only react to any offer you do receive as any attempt to manage a favourable outcome for yourself is almost guaranteed to be wrong.

lincroft1710 · 17 January 2018 at 6:44PM

As your employer there is no way I would give you any more than statutory redundancy or whatever was company policy (which would be higher than statutory). Where is the incentive for me?

ssparks2003 · 17 January 2018 at 7:25PM

I would be getting my CV ready as any new owner of the company will owe you nothing more than the bare minimum regardless of what position you assume.

sangie595 · 17 January 2018 at 7:58PM

I'd be going further. 4 years service is worth nothing in redundancy. I'd be actively seeking work and taking the opportunities offered to me. Unless you are massively in demand as a skill set, three months notice is nothing.

KeirH · 18 January 2018 at 11:03AM

Thanks for all your replies.

I think erring on the side of caution may be wise.

I’ll get working on my cv and sit tight till I get a bit more info I think.

I get the impression that usually any additional payments or bonuses would be arranged as part of the sale for the purposes of retention and ensuring knowledge transfer etc. Any retention bonus would be paid by the sellers as part of the deal.

I wonder is there ever any scenario where an enhanced severance package has been arranged by the buyer to ensure they don’t haemorrhage key staff on taking a business over?

Comms69 · 18 January 2018 at 11:32AM

KeirH wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies.

I think erring on the side of caution may be wise.

I’ll get working on my cv and sit tight till I get a bit more info I think.

I get the impression that usually any additional payments or bonuses would be arranged as part of the sale for the purposes of retention and ensuring knowledge transfer etc. Any retention bonus would be paid by the sellers as part of the deal.

I wonder is there ever any scenario where an enhanced severance package has been arranged by the buyer to ensure they don’t haemorrhage key staff on taking a business over?

Yes there are plenty of such scenarios. The problem is, unless you share what your unique position is. The assumption must be - it's not that unique.

It's likely that a buyer would have their own senior team to take charge, however in certain industries the assets of the company are the staff - often well paid, but not senior.

For example if buying a software development firm, the key assets really are the patents and the developers themselves - who often have built the product from the ground up. Their knowledge is worth as much as the product itself. The CFO of the company easily replaceable.

Possible Sale of Company

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free