How to get the best investment agreement

There are many methods of raising capital for your business but securing an investment can be very difficult. This sometimes leads to businesses rushing into deals because they are keen to get hold of any investment without first taking the time to step back and assess the implications of the investment agreement and, critically, understanding the terms. Therefore, from an early stage you should make sure that you fully understand the investment deal that is on offer, take legal advice from a specialist team and pay particular attention to the key terms.

One of the most fundamental terms will refer to the amount of equity shares the investor wants in return for their investment. Most investors will ask to have equity shares in the company they are investing in and this can be anything from 1% to 51% or more. 51% would be a majority share and would mean the investor has control of the business but most investors do not want this so would usually pitch their equity share return between 15% - 30%.  That would allow sufficient remaining equity to enable the business to obtain further investment at a later date.

How to re-negotiate after a property survey

The process of buying and selling property can be fraught with stress and frustration.  As a seller, there is nothing worse than receiving a survey report for your property that is essentially a long list of expensive repairs. It can add additional stress to the process as you are likely to be worried that your buyer may pull out, but their first approach is likely to be an attempt to re-negotiate the price.

In some instances, where the report only shows minor repairs, you may be able to persuade the buyer to stick to the previously agreed price. However, survey reports don’t always make this easy to achieve.

An overview of winding-up orders

If you find yourself in a situation where a company owes you money and is refusing or unable to pay then, with the help of a solicitor, you may be able to petition the court for a ‘wind-up’ order.

In England and Wales  a wind-up order can be served to a company if their total debts to you equate to more than £750. With legal counsel you also need to be able to prove that the company is unable to pay the debts and serve specific forms to the court.

Evidence of the company being unable to pay their debts could be a certificate of personal service or substituted service which includes details of the services you provided to the company and details of your requests for payment.  It could also be a statement from a bailiff’s company to inform you that they cannot recover assets of enough value to cover the debt in question. This helps to demonstrate to the court that your previous attempts at recovering the debt have been unsuccessful.