Definitive agreement
A definitive agreement is the binding contract that completes the sale, often called the purchase agreement, drafted by the buyer's lawyers against the letter of intent and negotiated by every legal team.
In a sale
What does a definitive agreement add to the letter of intent?
It makes the deal binding and writes down what the letter left open: the statements the seller makes about the business, the disclosure schedules that list every exception to them, and the conditions to clear before funds move. Everything that departs from the agreement's statements is written down, because a disclosed issue is a priced issue and a surprise is a retrade. Your own attorney reads and negotiates it with you.
Where it comes up
Read it in context
In the articles
- Where founders leave money on the tableMost of what founders lose in a sale is lost in their own decisions, and each one has a fix.
- Same business, two outcomesTwo identical businesses, one prepared and one not, sell for very different prices.
- What an LOI is really sayingThe headline is one term of nine. Here are the other eight.
- Structure is priceTwo offers with the same headline can differ by millions in what you keep.
See the terms with your own numbers
The Go-To-Market Analysis (GTMA) builds the file a buyer would build on your business, before a buyer does.