Accounting & Advisory Firms
Practices where succession, partner economics, and private equity entry are rewriting the model.
INDUSTRIES
Business Services
The revenue is real. The question every buyer asks is whether it survives the founder. Services firms are built on relationships, and too many are priced as if the relationships leave at completion. The discount is not a judgement on the business. It is a judgement on its transferability.
Consolidators understand this better than owners do. Accounting, facilities, testing, staffing: every fragmented service vertical is being rolled up by acquirers who buy founder-led firms at a discount and sell the aggregate at a premium. The owner who accepts the first approach funds that arbitrage. The owner who runs a process captures a share of it.
We prepare founder-led services firms for the consolidators already circling them. Our appetite is the gap between a practice and an enterprise: the discount owners accept when the business cannot be transferred.
We prepare founder-led services firms for the consolidators already circling them. Our appetite is the gap between a practice and an enterprise: the discount owners accept when the business cannot be transferred.
01
01
Where we engage
•
Sell-side processes for founder-led services firms fielding consolidator approaches
•
Buy-side programmes for platforms consolidating fragmented service verticals
•
Recapitalisations that fund partner buy-ins, succession, and partial founder exits
•
Preparation mandates that convert owner-dependent practices into transferable enterprises
•
Cross-border structuring for services groups operating across jurisdictions
02
02
Sector coverage
We cover the service verticals being institutionalised by consolidators, and the founder-led firms deciding how to respond.
Engineering & Technical Consultancies
Project businesses where backlog quality and key-person risk set the multiple.
Testing, Inspection & Certification
Accreditation-backed businesses with recurring compliance demand and global consolidators.
Facilities & Property Services
Contract-based maintenance and integrated services with institutional clients that rarely move.
HR, Staffing & Workforce
Recruitment and labour hire businesses valued on margin mix, contractor books, and compliance.
Marketing & Agency Services
Agencies and production businesses where retained revenue separates the priced from the passed over.
IT & Managed Services
MSPs and integrators where recurring contracts decide the tier of buyer that turns up.
Compliance, Risk & Security Services
Mandated demand supporting contract-grade revenue across regulated industries.
Education & Training
Accredited providers and corporate training businesses where enrolment economics carry the value.
Business Process Outsourcing
Delivery businesses where client tenure and cost structure are the diligence.
03
03
What we are seeing
Every fragmented service vertical now has a consolidation thesis behind it. Owners are receiving approaches years before they intended to transact.
The discount for owner dependence is real and measurable. Firms that professionalise management and contracts before a process recover it.
Private capital has learned to price recurring service revenue like software. Multiples have followed, for the firms that can evidence it.
Typical situations
Typical Situations
01
A founder holding an unsolicited offer from a consolidator, with no independent basis to judge the number.
02
A firm where the earnings are strong but every material client relationship runs through the founder's desk.
03
A partnership approaching succession, where the next generation cannot fund the buy-in and the founders will not gift it.
If this is your position, or that of a client, it is worth a conversation.
Discuss a matter with us.
If you have a transaction, a capital requirement, a structuring question, or a matter that requires coordination across multiple jurisdictions and disciplines, we should speak.
Request an IntroductionAll enquiries are reviewed by the principal.