How long does an acquisition take in the UK?

"How long will this take?" is one of the first questions owners ask about buying a business, and a fair one. You have a business to run, and an acquisition will compete for your time.

The honest answer is that there is no standard timetable. What we can do is show you the stages, what sets the pace of each one, and which parts you control. It also helps to keep two clocks in mind: elapsed time (how many months pass) and your effort (how much of your own and your team's time it takes). They are not the same, and planning only for one is a common mistake.

The short answer, with conditions

A UK acquisition of a private business usually runs through four stages:

1. The search: finding the right businesses to buy and getting a conversation with an owner who is open to selling.
2. From interest to agreement: working out what it's worth and agreeing the price and main terms in writing (often called heads of terms).
3. Due diligence: checking what you're really buying, while the lawyers draft the purchase agreement.
4. Completion: signing, transferring the money and taking ownership.

Two real reference points, from deals Michael Ferguson worked on before Acquisitiv: a £6m off-market acquisition of a wealth management business completed in seven months, and two European bolt-ons (businesses that fit alongside an existing one) for a UK buy-and-build investor completed in 14 months, after 83 businesses were mapped across four markets. Different situations, different timescales. Neither is a promise of what your deal will take. You can read more in our case studies.

An illustrative timeline

The table below is illustrative and fictional. It assumes one UK private company, an owner who is willing to talk, funding agreed in principle before approach, no regulatory approval, and no serious problems found in due diligence. Change any of those and the timeline changes.

Elapsed time and effort do not move together. The search can take months while needing only a few hours of your week. Agreeing terms may take only weeks but will need you in the room. For more on the effort side, see how much management time an acquisition needs.

Stage 1: the search

The search starts with what you want to buy and why: sector, size, location, the kind of customers and people you want, and what you would walk away from. The clearer this is, the faster everything after it moves.

Then comes research (building a list of businesses that fit), and approaching owners. Many of the best-fit businesses are not for sale, so the first approach is often the first time the owner has thought seriously about selling to you. Some reply quickly. Some say "not now". Some say yes a year later. You cannot control how owners respond, which is why this stage is the hardest to time.

Acquisitiv Target 45 sits here. In 45 days we research 100 businesses that fit your criteria, agree the list with you, approach the owners in confidence and make 5 introductions to owners open to a confidential conversation about a sale. If we're short at day 45, we keep going at no extra fee. It does not mean a deal completes in 45 days. It means the search stage has real conversations in it.

Stage 2: from interest to agreement

Once an owner is open to talking, you move through a series of steps:

• First meetings, to see whether the fit and the people are right on both sides.
• An indicative view of value, based on the information the owner can share at this point. See how to value a business before buying it.
• Negotiation on price, how it is paid (for example paying part of the price later if the business delivers, called an earn-out) and what happens to the owner after the sale.
• Heads of terms, agreeing the price and main terms in writing, usually with a period of exclusivity while you do your checks.

Pace here depends on how quickly the owner provides information, how many decision-makers you have on your side, and whether funding is clear. An owner who has never thought about selling may need time to talk to family, advisers and staff. Pushing too hard at this point can end the conversation.

Stage 3: due diligence and completion

Due diligence is checking what you're really buying. Financial, legal and tax work is usually done by separate accountants and lawyers, and it runs in parallel with the lawyers drafting the sale and purchase agreement. Our due diligence checklist sets out what is normally covered.

Things that commonly change the timing at this stage:

• The seller's records. Clean management accounts and organised contracts move quickly. Missing records do not.
• Findings that reopen the price. If the checks find something material, you may need to renegotiate, restructure or walk away. That is the process working, not failing.
• Negotiation of the legal documents, especially the promises the seller gives about the business and what happens if they turn out to be wrong.
• Funding conditions. Lenders and investors have their own checks and timetables.
• Approvals. A small deal is not automatically outside competition or regulatory rules. UK merger notification to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is voluntary, but the CMA can still investigate a completed deal, and once a formal first-phase review begins it must finish within 40 working days (CMA). Regulated firms are different again: under the FCA Handbook, a person planning to acquire or increase control of a UK firm it regulates "must obtain the appropriate regulator's approval before doing so" (FCA SUP 11). Some sensitive sectors have national security rules too. Ask your lawyer which, if any, apply to your deal before you agree a completion date.

Completion itself is often quick once everything is agreed. The work that matters next is bringing the two businesses together without losing people or customers, and the planning for that should start well before completion day.

What you can influence

You cannot control how an owner responds or what the checks will find. You can control a lot of what happens around them.

Decisions. - Write down your criteria, including what you would walk away from, before any approach. - Decide in advance who on your side signs off on price, terms and walking away, so decisions don't wait for a board meeting.

Information readiness. - Have funding agreed in principle (bank, investor or cash) before you agree heads of terms. See how established businesses fund acquisitions. - Agree with the seller early what information you will need and when.

Adviser coordination. - Line up your accountant and lawyer before heads of terms, not after. - Make one person responsible for keeping the accountants, lawyers, lender and seller's side moving to one timetable. In a founder-led business without a deal team, that is often the step that slips. - Raise any approval question at the start, not at the end.

Pace you choose. An off-market conversation usually moves at a pace both sides agree, rather than to a timetable set by a sale process. That can be faster or slower. It is rarely rushed, which suits owners who don't want to be pressured into anything.

Where to start

If you are planning when an acquisition could realistically happen, a useful first step is to test your criteria and timetable with someone who has done it. An Expansion Briefing is a free 30-minute call with us about what you want to buy and whether acquisition makes sense now, followed by a short written summary and a recommended next step.