Selling a family engineering business after 194 years of ownership

Dale Lifting & Handling (DLH) is a family engineering business that has passed through the family generations since it was established in 1830. DLH is well known across Greater Manchester as a high-quality manufacturer and supplier of cranes and lifting equipment to heavy industry. The business has a diverse client base spanning rail manufacturing, automotive, chemical and aerospace.

Deciding to sell

In early 2022, the business directors made a joint decision to sell. Both were approaching retirement and ready to take advantage of this next stage in their lives. The directors knew nothing about selling a business, so the business owner asked trusted people for business broker recommendations and a family friend suggested Business Partnership. They considered other business brokers, but once the directors met Paul Dodgshon in person they knew he was the ideal fit for their business. He impressed with his research of DLH’s history, current position and potential sale valuation, as well as his experience of the business sales process.

Business valuation, sales particulars and managing interested buyers

Working alongside the directors, Paul created a comprehensive information memorandum for the sale of the business, which took a while to finalise. The directors and Paul had different ideas of what the business may be worth, which is not unusual, but once a realistic value had been agreed and DLH was placed on the open market potential buyers came forward quickly.

Paul and Alex carried out due diligence checks and verification on potential buyers. Any that lacked funding or did not share the vendors’ post-sale aspirations for the business were put aside. Despite this, we moved forward with two parties and invested a considerable amount of time with them, but these proved ultimately to be the wrong people. Twice over we returned to the start point of looking for buyers.

Responding to challenges

The process of selling a business is rarely smooth. When challenges present themselves it’s reassuring to have a broker on your side to support and advise. Paul acted on behalf of the directors to help manage the various challenges and setbacks that arose during the sale. These included:

• Recommending the client put the business back on the market when potential buyers went cold.
• Supporting our decision to walk away from buyers who wanted to split the premises from the business, when the vendors’ intent was to sell all.
• Calmly liaising with all parties to prevent the sale falling through when the buyer reduced their valuation.
• Investigating potential land contamination issues with the local council and negotiating with the buyer to share the cost of a survey.
• Smoothing over the situation with all parties when the surveyors accidentally drilled through a power line as they carried out the survey (honestly some things you would not write in a novel!).

The outcome

After two years of searching, in early 2024 Paul helped DLH to find their perfect fit buyer. In September 2024 the owners successfully sold to a growing business group which already owned several other companies in similar sectors. The sale took around 9 months from initial offer to completion. Both former directors are currently enjoying their long-awaited retirements, planning holidays, finding new hobbies, and spending quality time with their families.

What the client says…

When we met Paul we knew nothing about selling a business. He explained the stages of the sale process and all the different scenarios and possibilities that could pan out. He simplified everything so we fully understood what would happen. It was quite the eye-opener as we thought selling a business would be a lot simpler and quicker than it turned out to be!

It was evident Paul had done his research before coming to see us. He knew lots about our business and had done his homework on valuation. In the months before deciding to sell, we received plenty of speculative approaches from brokers offering to sell the business on our behalf. Many offered discounts, invited us to free seminars, and generally promised us the earth, but not one of them demonstrated they had any idea what our business does. Seeing that Paul had made the effort to research and understand our company before he met us gave us the confidence and trust to appoint him.

Selling a business is exhausting and all-consuming. As a business owner it’s impossible to oversee the process and continue to run a profitable business at the same time. We could honestly not have done it without Paul’s tenacity, loyalty, experience and professionalism. He worked tirelessly on our behalf and never gave up, despite the setbacks. He was a constant presence and support, always available on the phone, and there to listen when we were frustrated or angry. He fully understands the emotions tied up in a family business. We realised early on that we were too emotionally involved to talk to buyers directly. Having Paul as an intermediary allowed us to get our point across and negotiate in a calm, controlled and level-headed way. I would highly recommend Paul and Business Partnership to business owners who are ready to sell.

Even at the very last hurdle when the buyer reduced their valuation, Paul said he would stand by us and start over again if we wanted to walk away. By this point, after almost 3 years of negotiating the sale process, we were ready to start enjoying our retirement and decided to accept the lower offer. The fact that he was willing to start again demonstrates his uncanny ability to take knocks and get back up again. Paul is, without a doubt, 100% on your side.

Martin Bradley
Former Director, Dale Lifting & Handling