A buyer's approach is a reason to explore your options and not the only signal to sell. Before you agree to deal exclusively with any buyer, find out who else could buy the practice and what you would need to know to choose between them.
Qualified buyers means separate buying parties with credible capacity to fund the purchase, a reason to acquire your practice, and active interest in moving forward. Aim to obtain comparable written proposals. Three names on a list do not get you there.
Know enough to question the advice
Ideally owners should know enough about their sale to challenge any third-party advice. If you use a broker then find out which buyers are being considered, why others might be excluded and what evidence supports any recommended price and terms.
You also need to understand the advice you are buying. Who does the adviser act for? Who pays them, and when? What work will they do to identify buyers beyond their existing contacts? Ask for the answers before you engage any adviser.
With your accountant, separate the practice's earnings from your own clinical work. Establish what the practice can earn after you leave, what depends on you staying and how that affects the proposed payment. Ask your lawyer to explain any conditions that would limit your choices during the sale or your work afterwards.
Then record what you want from the sale. If you have fellow owners, each should do this separately before agreeing shared priorities. One may want to stop working; another may want to retain equity and keep practising. Resolve those differences before assessing buyers.
Compare the whole offer
A buyer might propose a higher headline price but make part of the payment conditional on future performance. Another might offer less, pay more at completion and require fewer years of continued work. You need to compare what you would receive, when you would receive it and what you must do to receive it.
Other interested buyers may provide a fallback if the preferred buyer withdraws or cannot secure funding.
If you agree to exclusivity, your ability to pursue those alternatives may be restricted. Ask your lawyer what the clause permits, how long it lasts and how you can end it if the buyer stops progressing.
Since 9 November 2023, the Australian Consumer Law has prohibited businesses from proposing, using or relying on unfair terms in covered standard form small business contracts, with penalties for breaches. The changes apply to contracts made or renewed from that date, and terms varied or added from then. Ask your lawyer whether these protections apply to your agreement and whether its exclusivity clause is fair under sections 23 and 24; exclusivity is not automatically unfair.
Set a target of three qualified buyers
Economists Jeremy Bulow and Paul Klemperer showed, under their model's assumptions, that a seller could gain more by attracting an additional bidder to an auction than by negotiating optimally with fewer bidders. Their research on auctions and negotiations supports taking buyer identification seriously.
The evidence also requires care. Audra Boone and J. Harold Mulherin found comparable shareholder wealth effects from auctions and negotiations. Inga Chira and Nikanor Volkov found that attempted auctions attracting only one bidder were associated with lower sale premiums than successful auctions or negotiations begun with one buyer.
These researchers studied models and corporate takeovers, not Australian GP practice sales. Three is a practical target for comparing alternatives. The cited research does not establish an optimal number of buyers for a practice sale or a guaranteed price increase.
The GP Zoo dataset, which Proxeno uses to identify potential buyers, records 487 group operators holding 2,429 practice sites and 497 independent practices with 10 or more GPs in its 18 October 2026 data cut. For your shortlist, you still need to check each potential buyer against your practice's location and size, their acquisition criteria and their capacity and interest in buying.
Start with a controlled shortlist and test buyers' interest and capacity. If only one qualifies, investigate why before deciding whether to proceed, improve the practice's readiness, or revisit the timing. Adding unsuitable buyers to reach three achieves little.
Understand what each buyer wants
A nearby operator might want to expand locally. An investment-backed group might see an opportunity to grow earnings. An existing GP might want to become an owner. These motives can overlap.
Ask each buyer what they intend to retain, what they would change and what they expect you to contribute after completion. You can then assess whether their plans depend on commitments you are willing to make.
Check what ownership would mean for the practice
Australian researchers Anthony Scott, Tamara Taylor, Grant Russell and Matt Sutton found mixed results when comparing corporate medical groups with other practices. GPs in corporate groups reported higher GP turnover and poorer work-life balance, alongside similar job satisfaction. The researchers also found lower patient fees and greater organisational efficiency, with no differences in the service-quality measures they examined.
In their 2024 study, they estimated that 45% of Australian GPs worked in a practice structured as a private company, including 19.9% of all GPs in corporate medical groups with ten or more practice locations.
They studied associations with ownership, not the effect of a particular acquisition. Use those findings to ask a buyer specific questions about staffing, workload and how the practice will operate.
Ask to speak with owners and clinicians from practices the buyer has previously acquired. Find out what happened to staffing, clinical decision-making, billing policies and the former owner's role. Compare their accounts with the buyer's proposed arrangements. Discuss with your lawyer which commitments can form part of the agreement.
Prepare before approaching buyers
In the published notes accompanying his Flying Solo interview, Simon Bedard discusses reducing a business's dependence on its owner and understanding what buyers value. For a practice owner, that means being able to explain how the practice would operate through a change of ownership.
Proxeno sets out to give owners the information to make that assessment and choose whom to approach. Proxeno's role is that of an infomediary: preparing and organising information about the practice, the owners' priorities and potential buyers.
Proxeno uses the GP Zoo ownership dataset to identify potential buyers and records owners' preferences before comparing offers. Proxeno acts for one declared side and agrees fixed fees in advance, including a fixed completion fee. Your accountant advises on the numbers, your lawyer on the contract and an independent valuer on valuation. You engage and pay the valuer, who has no commercial relationship with Proxeno.
If you register your practice, Proxeno keeps your registration confidential and does not share it with buyers.
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Reference
Scott A, Taylor T, Russell G and Sutton M. Associations between corporate ownership of primary care providers and doctor wellbeing, workload, access, organizational efficiency, and service quality. Health Policy. 2024;142:105028. doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105028