SARL business takeover

Hi Valerie,

I have a question about a SARL business takeover.

The SARL exists since 2015 and is a subsidiary of a UK company.

The current shareholders of the french SARL want to close down the business at the end of 2021. My partner and I are exploring the option to keep the company open under new ownership.

In your professional opinion, which way would be better - to take over the existing company or to close down the old one and open a new company (in terms of ease & cost)?

The advantage we see to take over the existing company is, that the name is established in this area and we can take over all policies, accounts, insurances etc. already in place such as vehicle lease, vehicle insurance, building decennale, bank account etc. even though the owner name would need changing but the company name remains the same.

There seem to be a lot of fees involved for the business take over – to an extent, where we are considering that a new company might be easier and financially cheaper to set up?

Our accountant told us it’s about 1800€ HT for changing the SARL into an autonomous company – splitting from the UK company. The transfer of shares, as well as registering new directors are also subject to fees. Also we would need to pay for the shares – even if the old shareholders don’t want money for the shares – due to tax control. I’m not sure but maybe changing the name of the account holder for the bank account, the insurances etc. might also be subject to fees?

On the other hand, if we are opening a new company – we would have a lot of admin to do such as opening a bank account, registering with insurances etc. but potentially cheaper?
The downside is we are loosing the established name and we also wouldn’t be able to lease a work vehicle – not until after 3 years of trading. Is that correct?

Is there any advice you can give us please as to what you think would be the better option please?
Thank you.