We are in the 11th hour of purchasing a small business. Throughout the due diligence process the seller has been hyper-paranoid about his employees (whom are in their 60s and 70s) catching wind of the sale, so we have had to access the property only after business hours. Even after the Purchase Agreement has been signed he is STILL very squirrely about his employees finding out. (1) is this normal? (2) any obvious red flags?
Note: seller is hands-off and remote. Employees operate the day-to-day.
I don’t think there is anything that would make you avoid the deal entirely but you might want to be even more thorough with due dilligence.
It sounds like there are probably some very key dependencies. Him being fully remote + his paranoia + age of employees tells us this. I’d try to get him to tell you who those people are (after deal closes) and also get on site and try to make your own evaluation of who those people are asap after close. Then bribe them with a retention bonus or some reason to stay (Ex. if you are still here in a year i’ll give a $5000 bonus). Assure them you value them and sell them on a vision of the future.