Practical guides for founders who buy businesses.
What to buy, how to find it, what it's worth and how to bring it into your business. Written from the buyer's side, with sources you can check.
Jump to: Strategy · Finding targets · Assessing and paying · Deal and integration
Strategy
Whether to buy, what to buy and who should do the work.
Growth through acquisition: when buying beats building
Growth through acquisition makes sense when you can name what your business needs (a capability, a customer base, a region or capacity), buying it is a better…
Buy-side adviser vs business broker: what's the difference?
A business broker is normally instructed and paid by the seller, and their job is to find a buyer and get the sale done on good terms for their client. A…
Buying a competitor: a UK buyer's guide
Buying a competitor can add customers, people and capacity faster than winning them one by one, but it carries risks a non-competing deal does not. You need to…
How do buy-side M&A adviser fees work?
Buy-side advisers are usually paid through a fixed fee for a defined project, a monthly retainer, a fee on completion, or a mix of these. The model matters…
How much management time does an acquisition need?
An acquisition can run for many months from first search to completion, but your own time is not spread evenly across that period. It comes in peaks: deciding…
How to build a repeatable buy-and-build strategy
A buy-and-build strategy means using your existing business as the base and adding a series of smaller businesses that fit alongside it, in a planned order.…
In-house vs outsourced corporate development: which fits?
Hiring an in-house deal team makes most sense when you plan a steady flow of acquisitions for years and can keep specialists busy. Outsourcing tends to fit…
What does a buy-side M&A adviser do?
A buy-side M&A adviser works for you, the buyer. Within an agreed scope, they help you decide what to buy, find and approach the right businesses (including…
What is an acquisition thesis? Examples and a template
An acquisition thesis is a short written statement of what you want to buy and why: the growth it should deliver, the kind of business that fits, how you will…
Finding targets
Finding the right businesses, including ones that aren't for sale, and approaching the owners.
How to find off-market acquisition targets in the UK
Start by defining exactly what you want to buy, then research every UK business that could fit using several sources, not just filed accounts. Agree a…
How do you qualify an acquisition target?
A business is a qualified target when there is evidence of three things: it fits what you want to buy and why, its owner is open to a confidential…
How to approach a business owner about buying their company
Be clear why you want this business before you contact anyone, then write personally to the owner with a short letter that explains who you are, why their…
What is deal origination?
Deal origination is the work of finding the right businesses to buy, including ones that are not for sale, and turning them into real conversations with…
Assessing and paying
What a business is worth, what to check and how to fund it.
How to value a business before you buy it
Value a business you want to buy on the profit it will keep making once the owner has gone, not on the asking price or last year's headline figure. Rebuild…
Due diligence checklist for buying a business in the UK
Due diligence is checking what you're really buying before you commit. A UK buyer should test the earnings, debt, ownership, customers, tax, people, systems…
How do established UK businesses fund an acquisition?
Most established UK businesses fund an acquisition from a mix of sources: their own cash, bank or asset-based lending, part of the price paid to the seller…
UK SME acquisition multiples: how to use the benchmarks
Published UK benchmarks give a useful starting point: Dealsuite's adviser survey put the average UK and Irish mid-market deal at 5.4x EBITDA (operating profit)…
Deal and integration
From agreeing terms to bringing the two businesses together.
Post-acquisition integration for owner-managed businesses
Post-acquisition integration means bringing the two businesses together without losing people or customers, and delivering the reasons you bought it. In an…
How long does an acquisition take in the UK?
There is no standard timetable. A UK acquisition moves through four stages (the search, agreeing terms, due diligence and completion) and each one depends on…
Why do acquisitions fail, and how can buyers reduce the risk?
Acquisitions usually disappoint for a handful of identifiable reasons: the business was the wrong fit, the price was too high, key assumptions were never…
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