Corporate / Commercial

Conducting a business involves a process of planning, decision-making and strategic action all the way from starting up, to operating and managing, and growing the business.

We will advise and assist you at every stage of the business life cycle, from guidance on the options for structuring your business, to M&A transactions, management buy-outs, restructuring, capital reductions, and any exit from the business once value is realised.

General corporate law advice

Corporate & partnership structures

Each structure through which a business operates differs in law, tax and regulatory requirements. The structure can also have significant effect on the finances and operational matters of the business.

We will advise on the legal and practical effects of those structures on your business to enable you to choose and set up the structure best suited to your needs, circumstances and objectives.

We will help you with your business requirements that include:

Providing advice on business structures
Assisting with setting up a company or partnership, including advise on maintaining up-to-date records and registers and filing essential documents at Companies House
Drafting updating or reviewing articles of association and shareholder agreements or partnership agreements to create a framework to regulate the operations of the business
Share capital transactions, including the issue of new shares, creation of new classes of shares, rights issues, and share transfers
Capital maintenance matters.

Corporate governance & compliance, and operational support

Corporate governance directs the relationships between the stakeholders of a company, which includes shareholders, the management, customers, suppliers, financiers, the government, and the community. Its importance is underpinned by matters such as protection of shareholder interests, management of risks, and enabling adherence to legal and regulatory requirements, crucial to operate the business more efficiently and effectively.

Our advice and assistance in this area will include:

Guidance to directors on their duties and obligations under company law
Assistance with statutory requirements dealing with board minutes and resolutions
Advise on operational and strategic matters for key decision-making by directors
Setting up employee share schemes, including EMI option schemes.

Group & capital restructuring

We will coordinate with your accountants and tax advisers to undertake group and capital restructuring work to achieve your business objectives.

Our advice and assistance in this area will include:

Share reorganisations, including share capital reduction demergers and share for share exchanges
Alteration of share capital, including share buybacks to enable shareholders to realise value built up within their company in a tax-efficient manner.

Corporate transactions

We will assist with company sales, or purchases with a value of up to £1m, helping you through the entire process of the transaction, negotiating on your behalf to achieve the best outcomes for you.

Our assistance will include matters such as:

Advising and guiding you through the entire transaction, including negotiating on your behalf
Management buy-outs and buy-ins.

How can we help?

We will provide you with clear, concise and pragmatic advice to achieve your objectives, guiding you in making key decisions with a commercial focus.

Why choose Sharmans Law

We have built up our practise on listening to our clients to truly understand their needs and the industry they operate in so that we can tailor our advice and guidance to be relevant and commercially focussed and we proactively engage with our clients to ensure they achieve their objectives and goals in the long-term, drawing on the expertise across the team. Our services are backed by our commitment to the service standards within our Client Service Charter.

To make an appointment to see our corporate team, please call on 01234 303030 or send an email to info@sharmanlaw.co.uk

Commercial

The conduct of business operations inevitably requires commercial agreements to be entered into between the business and its various stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, financiers, and agreements that are ancillary to the primary functions of the business.

To operate in a smooth and efficient manner and achieve profitable returns, the agreements must be structured to define clearly the rights and obligations of the parties, manage potential risks or disputes that could arise, and provide for legal mechanisms for protection against them. This requires thoughtful, clear drafting that translates legal principles and commercial issues into a coherent and clear legally binding document.

We can assist you with a range of commercial agreements, such as: