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HS Financial Services - Leave it to the experts
Leave it to the experts

It isn’t always easy when a buyer takes over your much-loved dental practice and the first few months of changes can be very difficult for everyone concerned. In my case, the sale of my practice took nearly two years to complete – so you need to be prepared for the unexpected along the way.

When I decided to sell my private practice, I was aware it was likely to be a long process, and I would need expert help to assess the practice in every detail to find the most appropriate buyer and push the sale through. Having already received outstanding service some years ago – when I had a free practice appraisal to set up a limited company and being highly recommended by my financial advisor as the best company to deal with private practice sales – I knew immediately where to turn.

Support from the outset


The Mediestates team – and, in particular, my point of contact Shannon Loonam – were very supportive from the start. Shannon was pivotal in reminding me to do everything necessary on my part to prepare for the sale, which was what I needed as I was completely new to the selling process.

With my practice being fully private for more than 30 years, and their expert knowledge of the market, they knew exactly the type of buyers who would be interested, especially within the corporate market, and introduced a number of prospective buyers to come and view.

Frustratingly, however, we had got a long way down the road with one potential corporate buyer when they pulled out at the last minute. I had been warned holdups like this were likely to happen, so I was prepared for a long wait. The one advantage of this situation was when the next interested buyer came along we had our due diligence already in place and the sale process could, hopefully, move along a bit more quickly.

The right buyer did come along and it seemed we were getting somewhere. However, their side of the due diligence process proved to be very demanding and, consequently, slowed the process down. It was at this point Mediestates and Shannon went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure everything went through as planned.

CQC Process


During this entire course of events, I soon discovered that navigating the CQC application process is a crucial part of a practice sale. It is detailed, complicated, time-consuming, and something both buyer and seller must get on top of from the start. There are a number of important stages to complete, CQC procedures to follow and any mistakes in the application process can delay the sale.

With this in mind, I would wholly recommend working with someone who, as a broker, can provide a complimentary CQC consultancy service. Mediestates experience in this area meant we were able to overcome an unexpected issue with my practice registration, something I was unlikely to have resolved easily on my own. Despite the delay this caused, Shannon was able to get us back on track and we finally reached a successful conclusion.

What the future holds


Despite the unexpected hold-ups and frustrations, it was worth it in the end and, thanks to Mediestates, the sale successfully went through last October. As part of a planned exit strategy I will continue to work in the practice for the next three years to maintain the goodwill value as patients become accustomed to a new principal taking over – with the option of staying on longer should I want to.

I also want to carry on working to ensure I leave behind a successful business for the benefit of my staff, whom I value very strongly, and keep the practice growing to ensure they have job security for the future.

 

With my practice being fully private for more than 30 years, and their expert knowledge of the market, they knew exactly the type of buyers who would be interested

 



I would highly recommend the services of Mediestates to anyone looking to buy or sell a practice, and I’d be happy to talk to any practice principal about my experiences with them. They guided me through the sometimes difficult and frustrating aspects of selling a practice, introduced me to interested buyers and, once the sale was agreed, got us successfully through the CQC process. With the company’s help I have an exit strategy in place and I’m looking forward to seeing the practice go from strength to strength.

Being a Henry Schein company, Mediestates are better placed than anyone to understand the unique challenges of the dental profession. They have access to so many potential buyers and sellers, and offer a professional, tailor-made service from the outset to completion. I wouldn’t consider anyone else.

Posted by: André Hedger - Vendor Testimonial on

General Buyer Terms

This agreement is in relation to MediEstates Limited whose registered office is at 1st Floor, Pacific House, Stanier Way, Wyvern Business Park, Derby, DE21 6BF acting for and on behalf of our clients ("the Vendors"); and yourself (Buyer's Name) in relation for an introduction to a prospective sale of a business as a going concern. By registering through this agreement I agree to all terms set out below:

  1. Definitions
    In this Agreement the following terms and phrases shall have the following meaning unless the context otherwise requires:

    Business
    Dental Practice business providing dental care. This business is under the MediEstates Ltd sale terms.
    Confidential Information
    Means the actual Vendors identity and all confidential information in respect of the Business, including, but not limited to, any ideas, business methods, prices, accounts, finance, marketing, research, development, manpower plans, processes, market opportunities, intentions, design rights, product information, customer lists or details, employees’ details, trade secrets, computer systems and software, and other matters connected with the products or services manufactured, marketed, provided or obtained by the Vendor, and information concerning the Vendor’s relationships with actual or potential clients or customers and the needs and requirements of such clients’ or customers’ operations.
  2. Obligation of Confidentiality
    The Prospective Purchaser agrees to treat as confidential, information supplied by or on behalf of the Vendor in connection with the sale of the Business.
  3. Exclusions
    The obligation of confidentiality set out in clause 2 does not apply to:
    1. any information received from a third party who was legally free at the time of disclosure to disclose it;
    2. any information which was already lawfully in the Prospective Purchaser’s possession prior to receiving it from MediEstates Ltd on behalf of the Vendor; and
    3. any information which is in its entirety already in the public domain.
  4. Duties of Prospective Purchaser
    1. The Prospective Purchaser shall take such a reasonable security measures to protect the Confidential Information and trade secrets.
    2. The Prospective Purchaser shall not, without the prior written consent of the Vendor, permit any of the Confidential Information:
      1. to be disclosed, other than in confidence to its legal or professional advisors;
      2. to be copied or reproduced;
      3. to be commercially exploited in any way;
      4. to be used for any purpose other than in connection with the prospective purchase of the Business;
      5. MediEstates is registered under the Data Protection Act 2018. Upon Signing this agreement you agree to follow the legal obligations of this act to protect the details of the information supplied to you, with it no to be passed outside of the control of you the prospective purchaser.
    3. The Prospective Purchaser agrees to keep a record of Confidential Information received.
    4. The Prospective Purchaser will return to MediEstates or the Vendor all documents containing Confidential Information and all copies of those documents on demand at any time which are in its possession or under its control, and for this purpose the term “documents” includes computer discs and all other materials capable of storing data and information. The Prospective Purchaser agrees that such documents remain the property of the MediEstates on behalf of the Vendor.
    5. The Prospective Purchaser must not jeopardise or re-direct the sale under any circumstances.
    6. The Prospective Purchaser must not contact the Local Area Team or CCG regarding any practice sale, by any means of media unless written permission is granted from the Vendor.
    7. To carry out own due diligence on practice purchases and accepts that any information MediEstates has supplied is information provided by the vendor and is not responsible for its accuracy or completeness.
  5. This Agreement
    The existence of this Agreement and its terms are confidential and neither MediEstates nor the Purchaser may disclose anything about this Agreement or its subject matter or implementation to any person other than in confidence to their legal or professional advisers.
  6. Duties of Prospective Purchaser
    When buying Dental practices, finance is normally needed. Our organisation operated over more than one of the MediHoldings brand, by completing this from you agree that the information can be shared to our other organisations to avoid the need to register independently and provide the best possible service.

    MediEstates will refer you to the specialist dental lending team and MediFinancial who will contact the necessary banks, whom have preferential healthcare lending rates in some cases, to ascertain which funding is available to you.
    By signing this agreement you do not have to use any of the banks MediFinancial contact, it is just another service which we provide.
  7. Deposit for Dental Practice
    If you are interested in putting forward a formal offer in for a practice, once the offer is accepted there will be a deposit required to secure the practice sale which is dependant of the practice size. This deposit is held in a client account and will be returned to the buyer on completion of the practice sale. You the buyer, will be required to sign a deposit schedule which will cover the buyer and the seller in the event that the practice sale does not proceed.
  8. Changes to this Agreement
    Any changes made to this agreement must be authorised and signed by one of MediEstates Ltd Directors.
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