Business Lease

[cedben]

Hi all

Wondering if somebody couple provide some information or point me to where I can obtain information on the leasing of a business.

By this I mean leasing the entire business, equipment, premises etc and only owning the stock.

Situation is a current business I am interested in is valued in excess of what I can afford to pay to purchase and I am looking at options other than using vendor finance. I currently operate two other businesses so most of my capital is already tied up. One of my businesses is a farm which has huge capital inputs but at times very poor cash flow and returns.

Owner of business is keen to get out for genuine family reasons and has asked me to present all options to him. I see this a being a good opportunity as it is a different field to where I currently operate so offers me further diversification.

I am keen on pursuing the lease idea as it has a smaller capital outlay and therefore less risk. If structured correctly it will also give me the option to purchase later on when finances should be better.

Any comments appreciated.

Ben

 

[Aaron_C]

Well there's 3 components to this transaction:

Business Goodwill
Equipment
Inventory (Stock)

The goodwill component usually can't be 'leased' as it isn't an 'asset' in the bank's eyes. Although lenders do provide funding (not a lease per se, but a similar outcome) for goodwill if the business is a supermarket or a pharmacy (as examples). However, if you can't get funding for goodwill, unless the business owner agrees to a vendor finance, you will have to pay the goodwill in cash, upfront.

Equipment can be financed through many different lenders depending on what the equipment is. What type of business is it? What equipment is involved?

Inventory can't be leased because of the turnover of it. While banks can (and will ask for) a fixed and floating charge over the business assets, they won't finance inventory per se.