Track Record
How to sell your business in Sydney
Selling a business in Sydney usually takes 6 to 12 months from valuation to settlement. The steps are valuation, preparation, confidential marketing, negotiation, due diligence and settlement. A licensed broker is paid on success and handles buyer screening. This page covers cost, timing and what buyers check.
232,020
Businesses in Richard's market
Australian businesses with $2M+ turnover — ABS 2024–25
Day 77
Efficiency Sweet Spot
Avg. days to peak lead velocity
51.4
Qualified Inquiries
Per successful listing
~8 / wk
Peak Inquiry Rate
Weeks 1–4 of active market exposure
75.9%
Broker Win Rate
Valid market offer generated
Market Context · ABS Data 2024–25
The NSW Business Landscape
Before looking at campaign data, it helps to understand the market you are selling into. These figures are from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2021–June 2025, released December 2025.
2.73M
Actively trading businesses in Australia
At 30 June 2025 — ABS
232,020
Businesses with $2M+ turnover nationally
8.5% of all businesses — Richard's market segment
370,500
Business exits nationally in 2024–25
13.9% exit rate — the buyer pool is real
+5.1%
Growth in transport, postal & warehousing
Second-fastest growing sector nationally
A specialist market — not a mass market
91.5% of Australian businesses have turnover under $2 million. The segment above that threshold — where this practice operates — is 232,020 businesses nationally, or roughly 8.5% of the total. In NSW, that translates to approximately 60,000 businesses.
This is not a commodity market. Buyers in the $2M–$50M range are well-capitalised — trade acquirers, private equity platforms, and experienced owner-operators stepping up. They conduct proper due diligence and they have options. Presentation matters.
The exit rate and what it means for buyers
370,500 businesses exited the Australian market in 2024–25 — a 13.9% exit rate. Not all of those were sales, but the number illustrates the scale of business transition activity happening every year. NSW had the largest net increase of any state: 20,040 new businesses in 2024–25.
The 16.4% entry rate (437,150 new businesses nationally) tells the other side: there is a constant flow of new operators entering the market, many looking to acquire rather than start from scratch. That is your buyer pool — but they are also looking at every other listing on the market at the same time.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021–June 2025, released 16 December 2025. abs.gov.au
Timeline: the six stages of a business sale
Most sales in the $2M–$50M range take 6 to 12 months from the first valuation conversation to settlement. The table below shows typical elapsed weeks for each stage. Stages often overlap.
| Stage | Typical weeks |
|---|---|
| 1. Valuation | 2–4 wks |
| 2. Preparation | 4–8 wks |
| 3. Confidential marketing | 4–12 wks |
| 4. Negotiation | 2–6 wks |
| 5. Due diligence | 4–8 wks |
| 6. Settlement | 2–4 wks |
Total elapsed time: typically 18–42 weeks (6–12 months). Complex transactions or deals that restart after a buyer falls over can run longer.
What buyers check in due diligence
Due diligence is the stage where most deals fall over. Buyers in the $2M–$50M range conduct thorough checks. The list below covers the main areas.
Financial records
- →Three years of profit and loss statements
- →Tax returns matching the P&L
- →Normalised EBITDA with add-backs documented
- →Accounts receivable and payable ageing
- →Stock valuation if applicable
Contracts and agreements
- →Customer contracts — term, renewal, transferability
- →Supplier agreements and exclusivity arrangements
- →Lease — remaining term, options, assignment clause
- →Employment contracts and any restraint clauses
Operations and staff
- →Key person dependency — can the business run without the owner?
- →Staff tenure and any pending departures
- →Systems, processes, and documented procedures
- →Equipment condition and maintenance records
Legal and compliance
- →Licences, registrations, and permits — are they transferable?
- →Any outstanding litigation or disputes
- →Intellectual property ownership
- →Environmental compliance if applicable
Cost and fees
Business broker fees are usually success-based — meaning the broker is paid when the sale completes, not before. The fee structure and any conditions are agreed in writing before you sign an engagement. Ask any broker for their full fee schedule and whether any upfront or marketing fees apply before you commit to anything.
- ·Fees are typically success-based — the broker earns when the sale settles.
- ·The fee structure is agreed in writing before you sign an engagement letter.
- ·Ask whether any upfront fees, marketing fees, or retainers apply.
- ·Your accountant and solicitor charge separately for their work on the transaction.
- ·CGT and other tax implications depend on your structure — your accountant advises on this.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to sell a business in Sydney?
Most sales in the $2M–$50M range take 6 to 12 months from the first valuation conversation to settlement. Simple businesses with clean financials and no key-person dependency can settle faster. Complex transactions, or deals where the first buyer falls over during due diligence, can run longer.
Do I need a licensed broker to sell my business in NSW?
You are not legally required to use a broker, but a licensed business broker manages buyer screening, confidentiality, negotiation, and the information memorandum — work that is difficult to do while also running the business. In NSW, business brokers who handle the sale of businesses (as opposed to real property) are not required to hold a real estate licence, but reputable brokers hold relevant qualifications and professional memberships.
How is my business valued?
Most established businesses in the $2M–$50M range are valued on a multiple of EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation). The multiple depends on sector, growth trajectory, customer concentration, key-person risk, and current buyer demand. Asset-heavy businesses may also be valued on an asset basis. A broker will prepare a valuation range based on your normalised financials.
Will my staff and customers find out I am selling?
Not if the process is managed correctly. Buyers sign a confidentiality agreement (NDA) before receiving any identifying information. Staff and customers are typically not informed until after contracts are exchanged — and sometimes not until settlement. An off-market process provides additional confidentiality for businesses where public advertising carries risk.
What is the difference between an on-market and off-market sale?
An on-market sale involves advertising the business publicly on business sales portals, which maximises buyer reach but creates some risk of staff, customers, or competitors finding out. An off-market sale involves approaching a shortlist of pre-qualified buyers directly, under NDA, without any public advertising. Off-market suits businesses in competitive sectors or where the buyer pool is small and identifiable.
Supply · Business Sales Australia · March 2026
How Many Businesses Are for Sale Right Now?
As at March 2026, there were 12,119 businesses listed for sale across Australia on the country's largest business sales advertising platform. NSW had 2,947 active listings. The point is straightforward: this is a buyer's market. Buyers have choice. How your business is presented — the information memorandum, the financials, the story — is not a formality. It is the difference between attracting serious buyers in week one and sitting on the market for a year. You only get one shot at looking new and fresh.
Australia's largest business sales platform
Listings by State — March 2026
Victoria has more listings than NSW
VIC accounts for 41.9% of all listings nationally — more than double NSW's share. For a NSW seller, that means your competition is largely interstate. A well-prepared NSW business with clean financials stands out in a crowded national market.
Source: Business Sales Australia (largest business sales advertising platform), March 2026 listings data.
Campaign Data · 29 Listings
Buyer Inquiry Volume Over Time
Qualified inquiries per week, averaged across 29 business sale campaigns. Inquiry volume peaks in the first four weeks at around 8 per week, then tapers as the market works through the available buyer pool. The quickest sale in this dataset went under offer in 2 weeks. The longest ran for 2 years. Both are normal outcomes — business sales are a buyer's market, and timing depends on factors outside any seller's control.
Why some campaigns run longer than 90 days — and why that's fine
It's common for a business to go under offer within the peak window — only for the buyer to fall over during due diligence or finance. When that happens, the campaign effectively restarts with a smaller pool of fresh buyers. That's one reason a sale can extend well past 90 days. The other is simply that business sales are a buyer's market: the right buyer has to find the right business at the right time. A longer campaign is not a signal that something is wrong. The 2-year sale in this dataset settled at full asking price.
Off-Market Sales
Not every business should be advertised
The default assumption is that selling a business means listing it publicly — portals, advertising, a broad campaign. For many businesses that is the right approach. For others, it is the wrong one. Advertising a business for sale can damage the very thing you are trying to sell.
When staff see a listing, they start looking for other jobs. When competitors see it, they use it. When customers find out, they start qualifying alternative suppliers. All of this happens before a single buyer has signed an NDA — and it happens at exactly the moment you need the business performing at its best to justify the price you are asking.
An off-market process avoids all of that. It means going directly to a shortlist of qualified buyers — people already known to be in the market, with the financial capacity and strategic rationale to complete the transaction — without any public disclosure.
This includes management buyouts. Where the existing management team is the likely acquirer, an off-market process can work — but the practical reality is that MBOs move slowly. Management get distracted, timelines drift, and the longer the process runs without competitive tension, the more enterprise value erodes. The preferred approach is to run a proper on-market campaign, even if briefly. That does not prevent management from buying the business — it simply ensures they do so at a fair price and within a reasonable timeframe, rather than at their leisure.
Highly competitive sectors
If your competitors would benefit from knowing you are considering a sale — and they would — advertising is a risk. In logistics, manufacturing, and B2B services, word travels fast. An off-market process keeps the information inside a controlled group of buyers who have signed confidentiality agreements before they know who you are.
Businesses where the buyer pool is known
In specialised sectors — medical practices, engineering firms requiring specific licences, businesses with regulated ownership requirements — the universe of qualified buyers is small and identifiable. There is no value in advertising to 10,000 people when there are 15 realistic buyers.
Larger transactions where PE is the likely buyer
At $20M, $50M, or above, the buyer is not browsing a portal. Private equity firms, family offices, and strategic acquirers operate through networks and direct outreach. Richard has existing relationships with PE buyers active in the NSW mid-market. For a business at this scale, a direct approach to the right funds is faster, more discreet, and more likely to produce a competitive outcome than a public campaign.
Management buyouts — with a caveat
Where management is the intended buyer, an off-market process is possible — but MBOs carry a specific risk: they move slowly. Management get distracted, timelines drift, and without competitive tension the process can drag on for months while enterprise value quietly erodes. The recommended approach is to run a proper on-market campaign, even briefly. Management can still buy the business — they simply need to get on with it at a fair price and within a reasonable timeframe.
No public disclosure
Staff, customers, and competitors remain unaware until you decide the timing is right.
Pre-qualified buyers only
Every buyer in the process has signed an NDA and been assessed for financial capacity before receiving any information.
Direct PE and trade outreach
For larger transactions, Richard approaches the right buyers directly — no portal, no advertising, no noise.
Not sure whether your business is a candidate for an off-market process? That is one of the first questions covered in a confidential appraisal.
Book a Confidential AppraisalAll transactions are published with seller consent. Identifying details — business name, exact address, precise financials — are omitted or generalised to protect confidentiality. Multiples and timeframes are accurate to the completed transaction. Campaign performance statistics are drawn from a portfolio of 29 business sale campaigns.