Sell Side M&A
Sell Side Mergers & Acquisitions advisory with a focus on privately-held companies and corporate subsidiaries seeking an exit or a strategic capital partner
Tailored corporate finance advice in relation to the full or partial sale of a company
Our clients include:
- Family owned companies – where there is a need for succession, liquidity or a re-allocation of wealth or risk
- Founder-led companies – founders or executive owners seeking an exit or a partner to support them during the next phase of growth
- Private equity – professional investors and financial sponsors that have invested for a period of time and are looking to realise their investment
- Corporates – divestment of subsidiaries or divisional carve-outs from larger domestic or international corporates
Our expertise spans the entire transaction lifecycle, executing a process that starts with your unique objectives and ends with the successful completion of the desired transaction.
We leverage the depth of our experience to advise you through every stage of the process:
- Agree objectives – we partner with you to understand what you’re seeking to achieve so that we can provide clear advice and design a process to meet your specific objectives. What sets us apart is that we don't take a 'one-size-fits-all' approach
- Options analysis – drawing on our deep experience, market insights and relationships to outline your genuine options so that you can make informed decisions regarding process structure, timing and potential buyers
- Deep preparation – working closely with shareholders and management teams to deeply understand the business and the key value drivers so that we can build the equity story and articulate the opportunity to buyers
- Buyer research and outreach – we leverage our insights and relevant relationships to create a targeted list of potential buyers and investors, and utilise our network to contact them and present each opportunity in a tailored manner
- Financial modelling – analysis and modelling to build a detailed financial view of the key drivers of performance within your business, to support a driver-based forecast model that demonstrates future value to buyers
- Process materials – we produce clear and concise marketing materials including an Information Memorandum that not only outlines the business operations in detail, but convincingly showcases the investment opportunity to potential buyers
- Managing Due Diligence – working closely with the management team, due diligence advisors on both sides, and the buyers as appropriate, we ensure the timely and efficient completion of the due diligence process whilst ensuring value is protected and risks are managed appropriately
- Commercial negotiation – we take a hands-on approach alongside legal counsel to negotiate the commercial aspects of the transaction, including value, structure, warranties, operative provisions as well as key aspects of any on-going shareholders agreement and ancillary documents related to the transaction
- Completion – our model is weighted heavily towards the successful completion of transactions and provide support throughout the entire process, including managing aspects between signing and completion, to deliver an outcome that meets your objectives and exceeds your expectations
Discuss you sell side M&A objectives
Reach out to our team to explore how our independent, partner-led advisory model can help you achieve your objectives
FAQs
Navigating sell side M&A transactions involves complex strategic choices and critical commercial considerations. To assist your planning, we have outlined answers to the primary questions our clients encounter during the process. For a confidential discussion regarding your specific business objectives, please connect with our team.
Yes, this is common in the mid-market. A partial sale lets you take some money off the table, de-risk personally, and keep a stake and a role in the business as it continues to grow. It's a good option for owners who aren't ready for a full exit but want to diversify their personal wealth.
Most mid-market sale processes run somewhere between six and twelve months from kick-off to completion, though it varies depending on how prepared the business is, how many parties are in the process, and how due diligence unfolds. Rushing this rarely pays off — the preparation phase is where a lot of the value gets protected.
There's rarely a perfect moment, but a few things help: stable or growing earnings over the last two to three years, a management team that isn't entirely dependent on the owner (if the owner plans to exit), clean financials, and a clear story about why the business will keep growing after you leave. If some of that isn't quite there yet, that's normal. A good adviser will tell you honestly what to fix first rather than rushing you to market.
A business broker typically lists a small business for sale and waits for enquiries. An accountant prepares historic financial information and is an expert at looking after your compliance and tax position. We are a specialist that goes much further in the field of corporate finance advisory and mergers & acquisitions. We actively run a competitive process, identify and engage global buyers, manage negotiations, structure the deal, and coordinate lawyers, accountants and other advisers so everything moves in the same direction. For a transaction of any real complexity, that difference in effort usually shows up directly in the price and terms you end up with.
We focus on the mid-market. Generally on the sell-side, these are private businesses with an enterprise value between $50m and $750m. That's a deliberate choice. These deals often need more hands-on preparation and care than the big-ticket transactions that major investment banks chase, but we believe the mid-market deserves the same calibre of advice as the stakes are often higher and more personal. We are also in constant dialogue with strategic buyers across a broad range of sectors, so in the instance we are not the right fit for your business, we may be able to make very relevant introductions.