Selling or buying a business is always a well-considered process. Before arriving at a final decision, you will have had many thoughts in respect of the transaction.

When preparing for the sale of your business or acquiring a new business, one of the earliest points to consider after agreeing the price is how the transaction will be structured.

If you are a company director, it is important for you to be aware of the duties you owe to the company of which you are a director, and the potential consequences of breaching those duties.

​Before selling a business, it is important to consider a number of factors to ensure that the process takes place in an orderly and efficient manner, whilst minimising any potential future risks on the part of the sellers.

The recent case of Toone v Robbins 2018 provides a useful reminder to Directors and Shareholders of the potential consequences of taking cash out of a company. Although dividends are a seen to be an attractive tax efficient way to take cash out of a company, such payments are only lawful if there are sufficient distributable reserves in the company.

The government has issued a response to its proposals to introduce a register of beneficial owners of overseas companies that own property in the UK in an attempt to tackle corruption. The government is proposing that all legal entities that hold property or wish to acquire property in the UK in the future will have to provide details of beneficial ownership to Companies House.

New regulations set to come into force in summer 2018 will allow company Directors and individuals to remove details of their residential address filed on the public register at Companies House. Currently under the Companies Act 2006, company Directors and Secretaries are able to provide a service address for correspondence to ensure that their residential address is not shown on the public register. Whilst the 2006 Act allowed a service address to be provided it did not provide for the removal of any existing residential addresses that had previously been filed at Companies House.

Ramsdens Solicitors announced three new Partners in its latest annual promotions round. They also promoted nine staff to associate and senior associate roles. These promotions will significantly bolster the firm's Family, Private Client, Corporate and Commercial and Commercial Property teams.