Selling a Montana business

What the firm handles

The firm represents the owner, not the deal, and works alongside the owner's M&A advisor or broker and accountant.

• Readiness review before the business goes to market: entity records, contracts, employment agreements and anything a buyer's diligence will find
• Confidentiality and the letter of intent, where most of the price and terms are actually fixed
• Structure, asset sale or equity sale, and its tax consequences with the accountant
• The purchase agreement: representations, indemnification, escrow and earnouts, and how much risk the seller keeps
• Employment, consulting, non-competition and transition terms for the owner
• Rollover equity and what it means to remain a minority owner under a new majority
• Real estate, leases and landlord consents
• Closing, funds flow, and the owner's estate plan and asset structure once the proceeds arrive

Fee

Transactions are quoted at engagement as a fixed or phased fee, set by the size and structure of the deal, with a closing component where appropriate.

Who this is for

Owners of Montana companies, professional practices and agricultural operations considering a sale to a competitor, a private equity group, a consolidator, a key employee or the next generation, including owners who have received an unsolicited offer.

The firm

Clearstone Law is a Montana corporate, commercial and private wealth firm based in Billings, serving clients across the state. Business sales are handled within the firm's business law practice, alongside the trusts and estates and private client work the proceeds will need.

Montana local counsel to out-of-state acquirers and lenders is a separate engagement; the firm does not represent both sides of a transaction.