Off-market sourcing
Owners answer a discreet call from a firm; they ignore a broadcast. The best acquisitions never went to market.
Acquisition
Buy-side advisory for buyers,
searchers, and principals acquiring
a company that matters.
Sourcing, diligence, structure, funding, and close. One firm on your
side of the table, in confidence, across jurisdictions. By introduction. In confidence.
Every owner sells with an advisor. Most buyers walk in alone, and the price reflects it.
We map the market, source targets that were never for sale, run the diligence, structure and fund the purchase, and close.
The mandate suits search-fund and ETA buyers, family offices, corporates making a strategic purchase, and principals buying their next chapter.
The purchase takes several forms.
The search
A funded or self-funded search for the one company worth running. We bring the map, the approaches, and the
discipline.
The strategic add-on
A corporate buying capability, territory, or the removal of a competitor, sourced and executed without alerting the market.
The family office purchase
A private balance sheet acquiring an operating business, with the governance to own it well.
The first acquisition
A principal buying a company for the first time. The process forgives nothing; the preparation covers everything.
Someone else's process
A live auction entered late, to win. Speed, certainty, and a clean bid are what beat a higher number.
The process.
Six phases, the same discipline every time.
A sourced acquisition typically runs four to eight months; a live process moves on its own clock.
I
Screening
The conversation first, under NDA if you prefer. The thesis, the
capital, the operating plan, and whether we are
the right firm. If we are not, we say so.
II
The thesis
What you are buying and why, written down: sector, size, geography, and the price logic. Every target has to earn its place in the same document.
III
Sourcing
The market mapped, then approached directly and quietly, owner by owner. The best companies are not for sale; they are persuadable.
IV
Diligence & valuation
The business tested against the thesis: numbers, customers, people, and the things sellers hope you will not ask. A valuation you can defend to your capital and to yourself.
V
Structure & funding
Price, terms, vendor finance, earn-outs, and the debt and equity behind them, arranged as one instrument.
VI
Close & the first hundred days
Completion run to timetable, and the ownership transition planned before the keys change hands. The deal is won in diligence and kept
in the first hundred days.
Buyers lose deals two ways: too slow with a good target, too fast
with a bad one. The thesis is what tells you which
clock you are on.
From the market to the one.
The search is a funnel, and the numbers are the discipline.
200
mapped
40
approached
8
in conversation
The one
you buy
Two hundred mapped so that forty are worth a call, so that eight are worth a meeting, so that the one you buy was chosen, not settled for.
Why Buyers Engage Us
The thesis discipline
Written before the first approach, so enthusiasm never outbids arithmetic. Every target earns its place or leaves the funnel.
The funding, arranged
Debt, equity, vendor finance, and earn-outs, structured around the deal rather than found after it.
One firm, end to end
Sourcing through the first hundred days, carried by the same people. Your counsel coordinated, not replaced.
Cross-border, natively
The target in one jurisdiction, the buyer in another, the structure in a third. Built for exactly that.
On the buyer's side only
In an acquisition mandate the firm acts for you alone. Terms set out in the Engagement Agreement before work begins.
The record of the model.
For searchers and ETA buyers, the model has a public record,
and it is worth reading before you commit a year to it.
Mandate
The Stanford Search Fund Study, 2026 edition
Funds tracked
862 since 1984
Aggregate pre-tax return
33.9 percent IRR
Aggregate multiple
4.75x ROI
Source: Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2026 Search Fund Study, data through December 2025. Aggregates, not promises; dispersion is wide
and the median is not the mean.
Representative sectors include: Technology & Software · Industrials & Manufacturing · Healthcare &
Life Sciences · Financial Services · Infrastructure & Logistics · Real Estate & Development ·
Consumer & Luxury Goods · Energy & Natural Resources · Media & Telecommunications · Hospitality
& Entertainment · Defence & Aerospace · Private Equity & Venture Capital.
What we act on.
The firm acts for funded buyers with a real thesis.
Searchers with committed backing, family offices and principals
with capital ready, and corporates with a strategic case. Typically
profitable targets, typically founder-owned, typically with a cross-border dimension somewhere in the deal.
We act for the buyer alone, never for the seller in the same matter. Terms are set out plainly in the Engagement Agreement before any work begins.
Asked before most mandates.
How do you find companies that are not for sale?
Most transactions complete within six to twelve months. Timing depends on preparation, buyer diligence, regulatory requirements, and transaction complexity.
Should I buy or build?
No. Engagements include full company sales, majority and minority transactions, recapitalisations, divestitures, and management buyouts.
How much capital do I need?
Potential buyers receive information progressively. Anonymous profiles are used initially, with names disclosed only after confidentiality agreements are executed.
What happens in diligence?
An unsolicited approach can become a structured process. The firm assesses the proposal, alternatives, valuation, and buyer landscape before recommendations are made.
What if we lose the deal?
Valuation is considered alongside buyer demand, transaction structure, market conditions, and strategic fit. The objective is the best overall outcome, not simply the highest headline price.
What does it cost?
The engagement terms are agreed before work begins. The firm's principal fee is realised at completion and is aligned with the transaction outcome.
No public references.
The firm does not name clients, counterparties, or terms.
Not in marketing, not in conversation, not after the fact. What appears on this page is generalised beyond identification, and the clients best placed to vouch for the work are the reason we
will not ask them to. If discretion matters to you before a sale, it should matter to your advisor after one.
Adjacent to this mandate.
The right company is not on the market. Yet.
Every mandate begins with an initial discussion. If you would like
the firm to review your situation, request an initial discussion. If appropriate, the proposed scope of work and next steps will be set out. Confidentiality arrangements, including an NDA where required, can be established before detailed information is shared.