Guides · Selling a UAE business
Guides to selling a business in the UAE
Plain, specific writing on selling and valuing UAE small and mid-size businesses, written by Joseph Coello. No listing advertisements, no generic filler. New pieces publish on a regular basis, not a fixed schedule, and each one stays up permanently as part of the guide.
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Articles
When to Sell Your UAE Business: Timing Signals
How to tell when the timing is right to sell a UAE SME: earnings, owner dependence, lease and records as signals, when to wait, and how far ahead to prepare.
Asset Sale or Share Sale for a UAE SME
Share sale or asset sale for a UAE SME: what each structure does to your license, staff and liabilities, why buyers push for one over the other, and how it changes the price you receive.
Earn-Outs and Post-Dated Cheques in UAE Deals
How deferred payment actually works in a UAE sale: what a PDC schedule really protects, where earn-outs fall apart after completion, and the terms worth insisting on before you sign.
What Is SDE and Why It Sets Your UAE Sale Price
Seller's discretionary earnings is the number every UAE buyer prices your business against, not net profit and not EBITDA. What adds back, what does not, and a full worked example in dirhams.
How to Value a Facilities Management Company in Dubai
Why FM and MEP businesses carry the widest valuation spread of any sector: contract mix, transferability on a change of control, labor exposure, and the gratuity accrual most owners underprice.
Selling Your Business Without Staff Finding Out
Running a UAE SME sale quietly: the codename teaser that identifies nothing, the five gates every buyer clears before learning your name, and the order in which people get told.
What Kills UAE SME Deals in Due Diligence
The five problems that end deals after the letter of intent: records that disagree, unfunded gratuity, licences that cannot transfer, owner dependence, and the late surprise.
What UAE Buyers Actually Pay for SMEs in 2026
The 2.0 to 3.5x SDE multiple, the 25 to 35 percent buyer-yield test, and why asking prices far above either number tend to die in diligence rather than at the first conversation.
More pieces publish here on a regular basis. If you want the core method now rather than waiting on the Journal, start with business valuation in the UAE or sell your business.
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Find out what your business is actually worth.
Message Joseph on WhatsApp with a rough picture of your business: sector, size, and what you are thinking about. A written valuation read, built from your real figures, turns around in 48 to 72 hours.
Looking to buy a UAE business instead of selling one. Qualified buyers should see uaedealroom.com.