How an entrepreneur from Portugal started a medical business in the UK

I was born and raised in Portugal. I started my business here, supplying medical equipment and medicines. I had never dreamed of entering the UK market before. But when there was a real prospect that my long-term investment in the latest cardiology drug would pay off, I started making plans to move my business to the United Kingdom.

Daniel, 42 years old

Entrepreneur from Portugal

Clients’ names and photos have been changed

Our client Daniel is 42 years old and comes from Portugal. He has been involved in the medical business for many years, and his colleagues say he has exceptional business acumen. When he first started his company, he invested all his spare cash in research aimed at developing a next-generation cardiology drug. Daniel believed that the drug would not only relieve symptoms but also trigger the body’s hidden self-healing mechanisms.

A few months ago, good news came from the laboratory. He was informed that a breakthrough in research could be expected soon. Therefore, Daniel considered moving his business to the United Kingdom. Here, it is much easier to find additional funding, new business partners, laboratory staff, and arrange a series of trials.

Daniel formulated the task as follows. Our specialists had to help the client obtain a UK Innovator Founder Visa. The basis for this was the introduction of a new cardiological drug. The second stage was to find suitable premises for the company, which was to become the centre for the development and testing of the drug in the UK.

We completed the first part of the assignment fairly quickly. Daniel prepared a complete set of documents required for the issuance of an Innovator Founder Visa. These included bank statements from Portugal, expert opinions and a comprehensive business plan showing how the new business would operate in the UK. For the purchase of real estate, we advised the client to obtain official documents confirming his income level, the existence of assets in Portugal, and the timely payment of taxes.

Difficulties of the case

The second part of the client’s request — purchasing office space for the company — was somewhat more complex. Daniel needed a place where the laboratory could operate. Therefore, there were requirements for the premises regarding the stability of utilities (water, electricity), ventilation, communications, sufficient security, and cleaning.

There was an objective limitation on the funds that the client could allocate for the purchase of the premises. There was not much money available, as a lot had been invested in research and development and the transfer of the business to the UK. Daniel had a certain amount of money at his disposal, but he could not significantly exceed it, and he did not consider options involving credit (mortgage) or third-party investors at all.

As our client had only recently arrived in the UK, he had no credit history and no established connections in the business community. The move could have been postponed until the research phase in Portugal was complete. However, there was a risk that competitors would achieve similar results, which would prevent Daniel’s company from obtaining a patent. This was especially true given that the drug was in the final stages of development, when access to funding is particularly important.

Our actions

Our specialists began fulfilling Daniel’s request by searching directly for the right office space. We found that there were formally suitable options, but they all exceeded the maximum possible budget. There were more affordable options, but then the client would have to make serious compromises, which he wanted to avoid.

Understanding this, our specialists began to explore alternative options. The idea we ultimately settled on was that Daniel would invest not in a stand-alone office building, but in premises within a suitable business centre. The client approved the proposal, after which we concentrated on developing this particular option.

The aspects that interested us most (given that Daniel would not have complete control over the entire building) were

• the specifics of the access control system, the reliability of security, digital protection;
• how the office centre operates (whether Daniel’s company would be able to work at night, an extended range of services, catering facilities on site, etc.);
• the specifics of financial settlements — payment for utilities, common areas, internet connection, repairs, etc.

After determining the priorities, our specialists began searching for a suitable office centre. We used publicly available commercial real estate databases, but this did not yield significant results. Then we contacted independent agents and large companies operating in this market sector directly. The most interesting options are usually not included in public databases or are only available there for a very short time.

As a result, we selected several offers. Our specialists contacted the owners and clarified the issues that were of most interest to Daniel. After receiving their preliminary consent, we organised several video conferences, following which the client chose a property that met all his requirements. The owner provided detailed information about the building and the area, after which Daniel personally visited the office centre.

We then initiated the standard procedure for buying and selling property in the UK:

1. Formal offer, agreement on financial terms.
2. Appointment of an independent solicitor (solicitor, conveyancer) to handle the transaction.
3. Thorough legal and technical inspection of the premises.
4. Exchange of contracts with the signing of a preliminary agreement and payment of a deposit (in Daniel’s case, 5%, usually 10%) of the transaction amount.
5. Finalisation of the transaction — transfer of the remaining amount, registration of ownership rights, transfer of keys to the premises.

Result

With our help, Daniel was able to quickly purchase suitable office premises without exceeding his available budget. Immediately after the transaction was completed, his company continued to operate, and the time lost due to the move was minimised. Our recommendation to abandon the purchase of an entire building in favour of an office centre not only reduced costs but also solved many operational and technical issues related to catering, security, utilities, and high-speed internet.

How we worked on Daniel’s case

Conclusions

We do not use standard, typical approaches when fulfilling a client’s request. Therefore, the solutions we recommend fully take into account the specifics of the situation and are focused on maximum customer satisfaction. In Daniel’s case, this approach was the only one possible.

The action plan we developed was focused on maximising time savings and staying within the available budget. Daniel accepted our arguments and later admitted that he had not considered purchasing separate premises at all. The client enjoyed working with Imperial & Legal, began to trust our experts, and therefore chose us to provide comprehensive support for his business in the future.