About Stone & Co | Healthcare Business Brokers

Why we started Stone & Co

One owner at a time,and the buyer who will pay the most

Healthcare businesses in the UK are mostly sold through a handful of large brokers whose names are well known, and their size is a large part of what they sell. They run a great many sales at once, and an owner who has spent twenty years building a care home or a home care agency can find their business becomes one listing among hundreds.

Very few firms in this market offer the alternative, which is a personal service built around one owner at a time and a proactive search for the buyer who will pay the most. We set up Stone & Co to be that firm. It is a brokerage specialising entirely in healthcare, and residential and domiciliary care forms the basis of everything we do, alongside dental practices and aesthetic clinics.

"You are not a number to us. You have spent years building something, and our whole job is to get you the best deal for it."

The process

What happenswhen you sell with us

For most of the owners we work with this is the first time they have sold a business, and quite possibly the only time they ever will. The same partner walks you through every stage, tells you what is coming next and why, and stays with you from the first conversation until the sale completes.

We start by sitting down with you to understand the business, the people in it and what you want from the sale, whether that is the price, the timing, the future of your team or what happens after you hand it over.

Alongside that conversation we prepare your free full valuation, so you know what the business is worth today and what could move the figure before you decide anything.

We put together the information pack buyers will read, with the trading figures, the staffing picture and the regulatory history set out the way a buyer and their bank will want to see them.

Anything a buyer would query gets found and dealt with now, before anyone outside the room knows a sale is being considered.

We plan the route to market around the operators already running services near you, the groups looking to grow into your area and the investors who are actively searching, then approach them directly by email, phone and LinkedIn with a message written for each of them.

Your business is never named until a buyer has been checked and has signed a confidentiality agreement.

We run the offers in parallel so you can compare them properly, and we give you a recommendation on each one that covers how the deal is put together as well as the headline price.

We manage the buyer's checks, answer their questions as they come and keep the deal moving with your solicitor and accountant.

The partner who started with you stays with you until the money is in the bank.

What makes us different

BoutiqueProactivePartner-led

The four things an owner can expect from us that are hard to find elsewhere in this market.

A partner on every sale

A partner is assigned to every sale and is your point of contact from the first conversation to the last, and the work is never handed down to a junior once the agreement is signed.

A small number of clients

We take on a small number of sales at a time, so that every owner we act for gets the attention a decision of this size deserves and the whole of our effort goes into getting them the best deal.

We go out and find the buyer

Alongside our network and anonymous listings, we run dedicated outreach to the operators, groups and investors most likely to want your business, so the sale reaches the buyers who were not looking as well as the ones who were.

Experience across sectors

Our partners have raised capital, built and sold businesses and run the day-to-day operations of companies across a number of sectors, and that experience goes into how we prepare your business and negotiate its sale.

The team

Who you will be dealing with

Partner, Senior Care01

Kevin Stone

Partner, Senior Care

Kevin leads our residential and nursing home mandates, from single homes to small groups, and takes each sale from the first valuation through to completion. Before Stone & Co he spent seven years in regulated financial services with some of the UK’s largest institutions, including RBS, Barclaycard, Starling and TSB, working on client onboarding and due diligence, and he brings the rigour and professionalism of those sectors to preparing a care home for sale. He studied at Cardiff University and writes our articles on the senior care market.

Business Agent02

Jess Cook

Business Agent

Jess works with the owners of home care agencies and aesthetic clinics who are starting to think about selling, and she is usually the first person an owner speaks to at Stone & Co. She has spent the past two years in healthcare business sales, first with one of the UK’s largest brokers, and joined Stone & Co to work more closely with a smaller number of owners than a large firm allows. Before that she spent three years in investor services at Starling, and she studied at the University of Warwick. She writes our articles on the home care and aesthetics markets.

Confidentialfrom start to finish

Your business is not named to anyone until they have been checked and have signed a confidentiality agreement, so your staff, your clients and your commissioners hear nothing until you are ready for them to.

How our fees work →

Questions owners ask us

FAQs

1. What does a healthcare business broker do?+

A healthcare business broker helps the owner of a care home, home care agency, dental practice or clinic sell their business. At Stone & Co that means valuing the business, preparing the information buyers will read, finding and approaching the buyers most likely to pay well, running the negotiation and staying with the sale until it completes.

2. How is a boutique broker different from a large one?+

A boutique firm takes on a small number of sales at a time, so a partner can lead each one from the first conversation to completion. We also go out and find the buyer, approaching the operators, groups and investors most likely to want your business directly, alongside our network and anonymous listings.

3. How much does it cost to sell a care home or home care agency?+

With Stone & Co your first conversation and a full valuation are free. If you decide to sell with us there is a fixed fee of £3,495 when you instruct us and a success fee of 4% of the sale price when the sale completes, with a minimum of £5,000, plus VAT. Smaller businesses are quoted a lower upfront fee.

4. How long does it take to sell a healthcare business?+

Most sales take six to nine months from the day you instruct us to completion. The first two months go on valuing and preparing the business, the middle months on finding buyers and negotiating, and the last stretch on the buyer’s checks and the legal work.

5. Will my staff find out I am selling?+

Not until you decide they should. Approaches to buyers do not name your business, and nobody receives identifying details until they have been checked and have signed a confidentiality agreement.

6. Do you offer a free valuation?+

Yes, we offer two, and both are free. The valuation calculator on this site asks about a dozen questions and gives you an instant indicative range. A partner also prepares a full valuation of your business from your accounts and operating figures, setting out what it is worth today, how we reached the figure and what could move it, and it is free whether or not you go on to sell with us.

7. Which parts of healthcare do you work in?+

Stone & Co is a brokerage firm specialising entirely in healthcare. Residential and nursing care homes and home care agencies form the basis of what we do, alongside dental practices and aesthetic clinics, for owners across the UK.

An older woman smiling in a care home lounge

STONE & CO

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The right conversation starts earlier than most people think

Whether you are preparing to sell your healthcare business, looking to buy one, or simply want to know what yours is worth before deciding anything, the conversation costs nothing.

How we work

Every deal is run personally by a partner, backed by our data on the whole UK healthcare market, and handled with the care of people who have built businesses themselves.

Who we work with

Owners of healthcare businesses thinking about what comes next, buyers searching for the right one, and owners who just want to know what theirs is worth before deciding anything.

A boutique firmworking to get you the best deal