08M&A
The last stage. The work is done, and the value is realised.
A sale, a merger, a spin-off of part of the business, or a partial release. Prepared properly, then run with corporate finance advisers and lawyers who do this for a living.
M&A in practice
A business is worth the most to the buyer who does not have to fix it. Everything in the seven stages before this one is what makes that true: earnings that hold, systems that report themselves, a management team that does not depend on one person, and a growth story that can be evidenced rather than asserted.
So this stage is about realising it. Sometimes that is a sale to a trade buyer or another investor. Sometimes a merger, where two businesses are worth more together. Sometimes separating a part that is worth more owned by someone else. Sometimes a partial release, taking value out while continuing to run it.
We prepare the business before the process starts: the evidence pack, the numbers that will be tested, and the dependencies a buyer will find. Then advisers run the process. We are not brokers and we do not run auctions.
What we do as owner
The work is done and the value is realised. A sale, a merger, a spin-off of part of it, or a partial release, prepared before the process starts and run with advisers.
EY’s 2026 study of private equity exits found 86% of firms reporting that exit preparation improved their valuation, with the strongest results where preparation began twelve to twenty-four months before sale. What is done in the two years before a sale decides what the sale is worth. EY, Global Private Equity Exit Readiness Study 2026, 2 June 2026
Getting the business ready6
- Exit readiness assessed against what a buyer will test
- Financial and operating data that survives a buyer’,s accountants
- Reporting history, so improvement is evidenced rather than asserted
- Reducing dependency on any one person, including our own
- Customer and supplier concentration addressed before it is discovered
- Contracts, licences and records in order before anyone asks
How value is realised6
- Sale to a trade buyer
- Sale to another investor
- Merger, where two businesses are worth more combined
- Spin-off or carve-out of a part worth more elsewhere
- Partial release, taking value out while continuing to own it
- Sale to management or an employee ownership trust
Running the process5
- Choosing and managing corporate finance, legal and tax advisers
- Vendor due diligence, so what a buyer finds is not a surprise
- The information a buyer needs, prepared once and properly
- Management time protected, so the business does not stall during a sale
- Structure: what is cash, what is deferred, and what is left contingent
Separation, where part of the business is going5
- Standalone cost modelling and the standalone build
- Transition service agreements: designed, priced and exited
- Data separation, ring-fencing and supplier separation
- Stranded cost, and how it comes out
- People and operating-model transition
Not selling? The same capability is available as an executive mandate. See Advisory