Criteria

What we take on, and what we decline.

Published because firms that publish criteria are choosing their work, and firms that do not are accepting all of it.

ORDER PARAMETERS

Side Buy-side only

Buyer type PE fund · family office · holding company · independent sponsor · search fund · corporate / strategic

Enterprise value £4M – £80M

Target EBITDA £1M – £15M

Stake sought Control or majority

Target ownership Founder- or family-held, or corporate carve-out

Target geography United States

Buyer geography United Kingdom

Sectors Agnostic; one defined buy box per order

Pricing Per introduction, from £450 · minimum order £900

Delivery Within 90 days · undelivered introductions refunded

Exclusivity Each owner introduced to one buyer only — never shared

Success fee 4.0% stepping down to 1.0%, marginal — see Fees

Minimum fee £120,000 per transaction

Tail 24 months

Seller compensation None, ever

Orders outside these parameters are considered case by case. A transaction must fall within the M&A broker exemption in Section 15(b)(13) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 — in practice, a privately held target with EBITDA below the exemption ceiling or revenue below £200M, where the buyer takes control.

§ 02

What we decline

We say no to four things.

Buyers without capital

No committed fund, balance sheet, or identified path to financing. An owner we introduce to a buyer who cannot close is an owner we have burned.

Sell-side mandates

Taking one would put us on both sides of a market where we tell buyers we sit on one.

Undefined buy boxes

“Anything profitable” is not a buy box. We will help you write one; we will not run outreach without it.

Targets outside the exemption

Public companies, minority stakes, and anything that would require a broker-dealer registration we do not hold.

Order introductions Fees →