Fees

What it costs, and what it is calculated on.

Published in full, including the definition of transaction value — which is where buyers are usually surprised, and where an advisor’s honesty is actually measured.

§ 01

Engagement terms

Choose a term. Pay it on signature. Get all of it back.

Every term below is paid in full at the start and credited, dollar for dollar, against the success fee on the first transaction. If a deal closes, the fee has cost you nothing. If none does, you have paid for the coverage and you keep the map, the target list, the owner responses and the market read.

30 days

$4,950

One payment

The market read before the mandate. Thirty days, fixed scope, credited in full against any term opened within ninety days.

Credited in full against any mandate term opened within 90 days.

$4,950

3 months

$11,700

$3,900 per month

The shortest term on which a search can be judged. Outreach runs through the full universe.

Credited in full against the success fee.

$11,700

6 months

$21,000

$3,500 per month

Saves $2,400

Long enough for a second and third pass at the owners who did not answer the first time.

Credited in full against the success fee.

$21,000

12 months

$36,000

$3,000 per month

Saves $10,800

The term most mandates actually need. A proprietary search that closes rarely closes inside six months.

Credited in full against the success fee.

$36,000

There is no monthly plan. A proprietary search produces its first qualified owner meetings around day fifty to sixty-five; selling a single month would be selling something the calendar cannot deliver.

For reference: US buy-side search mandates for search funds and family offices are published at $6,000 to $15,000 per month on twelve to twenty-four month commitments; buy-side retainers at deal-advisory firms run $25,000 to $75,000 per month. This schedule sits below all of them, and every dollar of it is credited.

§ 02

What a mandate includes

All of it, at every term.

The buy box, written and agreed
Market map and sized target universe
The target set, approved by you before anything goes out
Owner outreach by letter, email and telephone, in our name
The anonymous buyer profile the owner sees
Telephone qualification before anything reaches your desk
An owner memo on every qualified target — fit, gaps, motivation, next step
Introduction once an owner is genuinely interested
Attendance at every meeting and every negotiation
Support through indication of interest, letter of intent and exclusivity
Diligence coordination through to closing
A written coverage report every month

Not included, because they are third-party work you should buy directly and we should not mark up: quality of earnings, legal, tax and environmental diligence, and your own counsel on the purchase agreement.

SUCCESS FEE — MARGINAL RATE ON TRANSACTION VALUE

First $5,000,000 4.0%

$5,000,000 – $10,000,000 2.5%

$10,000,000 – $25,000,000 2.0%

$25,000,000 – $50,000,000 1.5%

Above $50,000,000 1.0%

Minimum per transaction $150,000

Marginal, not banded — each rate applies only to the portion of transaction value inside its tier. There is no cliff at any threshold. Fees already paid are deducted from whatever this comes to.

WHAT THAT COMES TO FEE EFFECTIVE

$5,000,000 $200,000 4.00%

$10,000,000 $325,000 3.25%

$20,000,000 $525,000 2.63%

$25,000,000 $625,000 2.50%

$50,000,000 $1,000,000 2.00%

$100,000,000 $1,500,000 1.50%

The 2026 Firmex/Axial survey of US middle-market advisors puts effective sell-side fees at approximately 6.3% at $5M, 3.9% at $20M and 2.0% at $100M. Buy-side work carries no information memorandum, no auction and no quality-of-earnings preparation, and is priced accordingly — this scale runs at roughly four fifths of the sell-side equivalent across its range.

TRANSACTION VALUE INCLUDES

Cash at closing Included

Securities or non-cash consideration Included, at fair value

Debt assumed, refinanced or repaid Included

Deferred consideration, vendor note, holdback Included, at face value

Escrow Included, at face value

Rollover equity Included, valued as for non-rolling sellers

Earn-out and contingent consideration Only if, as and when actually paid

Working capital adjustment Excluded

Third-party transaction expenses Excluded

§ 04

The other terms

The five that matter.

Everything paid is credited

Every term, and the assessment before it, is deducted in full from the first success fee. There is no cap on the credit and no portion we keep back.

Tail period — 24 months

If the engagement ends, the fee is still due on a transaction with a company we introduced, closing within 24 months. It applies only to companies entered on a written, dated register you have seen.

Non-circumvention

The fee is due whether the transaction is completed by you, an affiliate, a portfolio company, a co-investor or a special purpose vehicle. It is not a trap; it is what makes a credited-fee model possible at all.

Lane exclusivity

We do not run a competing search in your sub-sector and geography while your mandate is live. You remain free to source through any other channel — the fee only ever attaches to companies we introduced.

Expenses

Mail, telephone, data and sending infrastructure are ours, and are included. Anything outside that is billed at documented cost, and only with your written approval in advance.

§ 05

The line we do not cross

We take no money from the other side.

No fee, commission, retainer, carried interest, equity or expense reimbursement from a target company, from a seller, or from anyone connected to either. The engagement letter says so and requires us to disclose any relationship that could be mistaken for one.

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