Saint John's port operations, refinery- and mill-adjacent trades, and the uptown restaurants and shops that serve them make up a business market shaped by a handful of large industrial anchors and a great many independent suppliers around them. An aging owner cohort in the historic uptown core means succession, more than growth capital, drives most of the sales we see here.
Part of New Brunswick — one provincial deal market, page by page.
Every figure below traces to a named public source — no estimates, no filler.
†Typical patterns across New Brunswick deals — not a quote or advice; every deal is confirmed on its own facts.
The same sequence underlies almost every owner-run Saint John deal — what changes from deal to deal is how long each step takes.
Reaching an agreement
Buyer and seller agree on price and key terms, usually informally, before lawyers draft anything binding. We review before you sign — even a "non-binding" LOI can lock in terms you didn't mean to fix.
usually 1–2 weeks†The APS sets out price, structure (asset or share), conditions, and closing date. We draft or review it and negotiate the protections — reps, warranties, holdbacks — that actually matter for your deal.
1–3 weeks to negotiate†Corporate, PPSA lien, litigation, and licence searches confirm what you're actually buying. We chase the seller's lawyer, the registries, and any regulator whose sign-off your deal needs.
2–4 weeks, in parallel†Getting to closing
Landlord, franchisor, lender, and licensing-body sign-offs are chased in parallel with the paperwork. In Saint John the provincial pieces — the Corporate Registry search, the WorkSafeNB clearance letter, and any liquor-licensing step for an uptown venue — run alongside the landlord's consent, not after it, with port-side certifications sometimes joining the list.
often the critical path†Funds, keys, and signed documents change hands. We coordinate directly with both sides' lawyers and the lender so nothing is left to a last-minute phone call.
1 day, once conditions are met†Registrations, licence transfers still in progress, and any post-closing deliverables — like a holdback release — get tracked to completion, not left for you to chase.
1–2 week tail†This is the first real decision in almost every deal — and it changes what you're buying, what you're taking on, and how it's taxed.
| Question | Asset purchase | Share purchase |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | The business's assets — equipment, inventory, lease, goodwill, name. | The shares of the company itself — everything it owns, and everything it owes. |
| Seller's liabilities | Generally stay behind with the seller's corporation. | Generally come with the company, known and unknown. |
| Tax angle — seller | Straightforward proceeds treatment in most cases. | May qualify for the lifetime capital-gains exemption on qualifying small business shares. |
| Tax angle — buyer | A stepped-up cost base on assets bought; an HST s.167 election may apply. | Cost base carries over from the seller — a different position for the buyer. |
| Licences & contracts | Must generally be re-issued or assigned into the buyer's name. | Usually stay in place, since the corporation itself doesn't change. |
| Employees | Employment Standards Act continuity rules typically apply. | Employment generally continues uninterrupted — the employer doesn't change. |
| Typical use in Saint John | Most trades, marine-supply and retail deals here — with HST as the only sales tax at play, the s.167 election is the tax question, not a second provincial layer. | Seen where a contractor's safety record, port-side certifications or long-standing supply contracts are the value — the corporation continues, so those aren't rebuilt. |
The business's assets — equipment, inventory, lease, goodwill, name.
The shares of the company itself — everything it owns, and everything it owes.
Generally stay behind with the seller's corporation.
Generally come with the company, known and unknown.
Straightforward proceeds treatment in most cases.
May qualify for the lifetime capital-gains exemption on qualifying small business shares.
A stepped-up cost base on assets bought; an HST s.167 election may apply.
Cost base carries over from the seller — a different position for the buyer.
Must generally be re-issued or assigned into the buyer's name.
Usually stay in place, since the corporation itself doesn't change.
Employment Standards Act continuity rules typically apply.
Employment generally continues uninterrupted — the employer doesn't change.
Most trades, marine-supply and retail deals here — with HST as the only sales tax at play, the s.167 election is the tax question, not a second provincial layer.
Seen where a contractor's safety record, port-side certifications or long-standing supply contracts are the value — the corporation continues, so those aren't rebuilt.
We tell you which structure fits — before you sign anything.
Different lists depending on which side of the deal you're on — both matter for how smoothly closing goes.
No open-ended hourly surprises — the cost is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
| Type of work | Fee | How it's confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| Straightforward purchase or sale | Starting from $3,388.87 Our charges · taxes included | Confirmed in writing once we see the agreement. |
| Larger or more complex deal | Quoted to scope | Short call → fixed written quote before any work begins. |
| Searches, filings & third-party fees | At cost | Itemized on your invoice, not marked up. |
A café or restaurant, a salon, a franchise unit, or a trades business in Saint John — usually one buyer, one seller.
Start my file →A company with several owners or employees, bank financing, real estate, or a deal that needs negotiated protections before you sign.
Book a consultation →Not sure which you are? That's our job to figure out, not yours. As a rough guide, most deals under a couple of million dollars are the first kind — above that, you're usually in Mergers & Acquisitions territory.
Neighbouring pages in the same regional deal market.
The regional picture — consents, sectors and the full municipal web.
Moncton's small-business market is shaped by its long-standing role as the Maritimes' transportation and distribution hub, with trucking, warehousing, and logistics operators a recurring feature of local business sales alongside franchise restaurants and retail serving the wider region that shops and travels through the city.
As New Brunswick's capital and home to two universities, Fredericton's owner-run business market leans toward professional and personal-service firms (legal, accounting, consulting) serving government and higher education, plus a compact downtown of independent restaurants, retailers, and a growing cluster of IT and tech companies.
A lot of independent contractors and marine suppliers here work under or alongside a small number of large industrial operators, so a chunk of the business's value can be one or two anchor relationships. We ask early whether those contracts survive a change of ownership or trigger a consent step, rather than finding out at closing.
Uptown Saint John's building stock is older, so lease terms can carry more building-specific conditions — assignment consent, insurance requirements, sometimes heritage restrictions — than a newer commercial strip would. We read the lease itself before we read anything else on an uptown deal.
Mostly in tone rather than mechanics — a business held by one family for decades tends to have thinner financial records and more informal arrangements with staff and suppliers than a recently built one, so diligence spends more time formalizing what's been working on a handshake basis.
The legal framework is the same as any other Saint John business, but port-adjacent operators often carry equipment financing, marine certifications or aquaculture licensing that need their own transfer or requalification steps — we map those out at intake so they don't surface as a surprise partway through the deal.
New Brunswick's Employment Standards Act doesn't set out a specific rule deeming service continuous on a sale, so what an employee's history means to the new owner is generally addressed in the purchase agreement itself, with the usual employment-law backstop if a buyer doesn't offer comparable ongoing work. We build that into the deal terms rather than leaving it silent.
It confirms the seller's corporation is in good standing, tells us who its directors and officers are, and surfaces its filing history — the first search we run on any Saint John share deal, and required separately if the buyer's own corporation was formed outside the province.
| Resource | Official link |
|---|---|
| WorkSafeNB — accounts and coverage Clearance letters | Visit www.worksafenb.ca |
| New Brunswick Corporate Registry Corporate searches & extra-provincial registration | Visit www2.snb.ca |
| New Brunswick — liquor licences and permits Licensed venues | Visit www.gnb.ca |
| New Brunswick — food premises licence Operator permits | Visit www.gnb.ca |
Industries we cover
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Serving Saint John.
Tell us about your Saint John deal — we'll point you the right way and confirm the cost in writing before any work begins.