Duncan Sherlock, principal partner at Foster Denovo, explained how he took the business from nothing to £140m assets under advice, before deciding to sell up.

He said, “I wanted to reduce my stress levels, that was the deciding factor. I looked at three options before selling, including an MBO, EOT and family succession. So we came to the conclusion that selling was the best solution”.

Sherlock said he had four or five offers for the business before Covid hit.

They eventually completed the sale on December 31, 2023, and he joked “we had quite a good New Year’s Eve last year”.

But my point is, when you’re embarking on this journey, it is important to remember it is not a quick process. When we had the offer, you think, ‘that is the end of it, it’s over’, but it isn’t. Then you have all the due diligence.

Sherlock said one of the things he struggled with was wanting to stay employed after the sale.

“I wanted to stay employed because it was important to me I was going to feel safe in the place I put my clients. You want to be comfortable when you take your clients to a different firm. However, I struggled. I was used to making all the big decisions, and suddenly you are having to accept decisions being made without you”.

Duncan added, “If you want to retain control of your business, selling isn’t the right thing for you,”