Defining the search
Translate the acquisition rationale into target criteria, research potential businesses and plan an appropriate approach.
Buy-side advisory
Finding a business that fits your plans for growth
The right acquisition begins with a clear reason to buy. We help businesses and acquirers work through the opportunity, the questions and the path forward.
Define the opportunity
Start with what
the acquisition should achieve
An acquisition can support a new market, a complementary capability or the next stage of a business.
We begin with your objectives and target criteria: the type of company, the capabilities you want, the fit with your existing operations and the resources available to pursue the opportunity.
Whether you have identified a business or are still defining the search, an initial discussion can clarify where advisory support may be useful.
Potential scope of work
How we can support an acquisition
Evaluating the opportunity
Examine the financial and commercial story, consider value and transaction structure, and identify questions for further diligence.
Coordinating the transaction work
Support discussions, organize diligence and coordinate transaction work with management, financing sources and legal, tax and other advisors.
Keep fit in view
What happens after
the transaction matters
An acquisition brings people, customers, capabilities and responsibilities together. The operating fit and the proposed handover deserve attention alongside the financial terms.
Discuss the assumptions behind the opportunity, the work required to bring the businesses together and who will carry it out. Those questions help make the proposed next step more concrete.
Begin with an outline
Bring the question
you are working through
- What would you want an acquisition to accomplish?
- Which sectors, capabilities or markets are relevant?
- Do you have a target in mind or want to define a search?
- What timing and execution questions need attention?
We agree the scope of work before an engagement begins. Use the first conversation for a broad outline; sensitive records can follow through an agreed process.
Discuss an acquisition with our team →Your acquisition discussion framework
Make the rationale
specific enough to examine
Use these prompts privately or bring them to a first conversation. They organize the questions; they do not rate a target or recommend an acquisition.
01 / Purpose
What should change?
Write one sentence describing the capability, customer access, market presence or other outcome the acquisition should add.
What evidence would show that buying is a suitable way to achieve that objective?
02 / Criteria
What must fit?
Separate essential criteria from preferences: business model, customers, geography, capabilities, management and operating requirements.
Which condition would make you stop, even if the headline price looked attractive?
03 / Opportunity
What needs proving?
List the assumptions behind the financial and commercial case. Note the records, conversations and professional diligence needed to examine them.
What would change your view of value, structure or the decision to proceed?
04 / Execution
Who can carry it through?
Identify the management attention, financing discussions and legal, tax and other professional support the process would require.
What timing or resource constraint could make this difficult?
05 / The day after
What must work together?
Consider the people, customers, systems and responsibilities that would come together, and the handover needed from the seller.
Who would own the first operating priorities after completion?
Bring it into a conversation
Bring your acquisition questions to the team
Share your purpose, essential criteria and the questions you want to resolve. Keep sensitive target records for an agreed process.
Discuss an acquisition with our team →