Buy-side M&A advisory · UK
The right acquisition.
The right acquisition.
Not just another deal.
Buy-side M&A advisory for corporates, private equity, and buy-and-build investors who need acquisitions to work after completion.
Acquisitiv is a UK specialist buy-side M&A advisory firm. Founded by an ACCA-qualified adviser with 17+ years across investment banking, turnaround, and operational finance, the firm helps buyers find the right target, execute the deal, and protect value through the first 90 days post-completion. Our time-based fee plus success fee model keeps advice honest and focused on the right outcome – not just any deal.
70%
Failure rate
of acquisitions fail to deliver projected value. The rate hasn't improved in decades.
42%
Wrong target
of failures caused by pursuing available deals rather than the right ones.
31%
Weak diligence
of failures from problems missed or rationalised away under deal pressure.
27%
Poor integration
of failures because the value plan wasn't operationally real before close.
The problem
The acquisition market is built for sellers and advisers.
The acquisition market is built for sellers and advisers.
Not buyers.
Most buyers do not fail because they lack ambition. They fail because they pursue available targets, move under deal pressure, and rely on advisers who are rewarded when a transaction completes – not when the acquisition works.
The buyer carries the downside. The adviser often does not.
The hidden cost
The wrong acquisition does not just waste capital.
It consumes management time, damages board confidence, distracts the core business, and leaves you fixing problems you paid a premium to inherit.
Time lost
Six to twelve months chasing targets that were never right for the strategy or the business.
Capital misallocated
A premium paid for a business that only half-fits the plan – and a balance sheet that reflects it.
Leadership distracted
Senior people pulled away from the business they already run, for months at a time.
Value leakage
Integration planning that starts after the risks have already arrived. Value assumed in the IC case that never materialises.
The real cost is not the fee.
It is buying the wrong business well.
It is buying the wrong business well.
The Acquisitiv difference
We are not structured like a typical buy-side adviser.
Most advisers are built around the transaction. Acquisitiv is built around the outcome.
| Typical buy-side adviser | Acquisitiv |
|---|---|
| Starts with targets | Starts with the acquisition thesis |
| Sends available opportunities | Filters for strategic fit before introduction |
| Pushes towards completion | Challenges whether the deal should proceed |
| Leaves after the transaction | Stays through the first 90 days |
| Relies heavily on success fees | Structured to keep advice honest throughout the engagement |
If the deal is wrong, we say so – even if that costs us the mandate.
Our process
From thesis to trading.
Four stages. One job: stop the wrong acquisition reaching your board, your balance sheet, or your operating team.
01 – Strategy
Acquisition Strategy
Define the acquisition thesis, target criteria, walk-away rules, and board alignment before the market is approached.
Risk removed: Chasing businesses that were never right.
02 – Origination
Target Origination
Research, approach, qualify, and summarise off-market targets that fit the thesis. You meet only businesses worth your time.
Risk removed: Depending on recycled broker flow.
03 – Execution
Deal Execution
Run valuation, negotiation, heads of terms, due diligence coordination, legal process management, and completion.
Risk removed: Deal pressure replacing judgement.
04 – Integration
90-Day Integration
Plan Day One before close, then support the first 90 days through operating reviews, management alignment, and performance tracking.
Risk removed: Paying for value that leaks after completion.
Who we work with
Three buyer types. One acquisition problem.
Acquisitiv works with buyers who have a live mandate and need the right target, the right deal, or both.
Corporates
Board confidence before commitment.
Your board wants conviction before capital is committed. Your internal team doesn't have the bandwidth or network to originate the right targets proactively. We become your dedicated acquisition function.
Ideal for: CEOs, CFOs, and corporate development teams with an active acquisition mandate.
Buy-and-build investors
Proprietary targets that fit the platform.
Every broker sends you the same recycled deal flow at auction prices. We originate proprietary targets that fit your thesis specifically – businesses not yet thinking about selling.
Ideal for: Private investors and owner-operators executing a deliberate buy-and-build strategy.
Private equity
The IC bolt-on plan made real.
We operate as the dedicated buy-side function for the portfolio company – originating targets that fit the investment thesis, running the process with the discipline the IC expects, without adding headcount to the portco.
Ideal for: Mid-market PE firms with portfolio companies requiring bolt-on acquisitions.
The numbers that matter
Proof the model is built for serious buyers.
17+
Years
M&A, investment banking, turnaround, and operational finance experience.
4
Stages
Strategy, origination, execution, and integration – one advisory model.
100%
Senior involvement
Senior involvement on every mandate. No handoffs. No junior analysts. No handoffs. No junior analysts.
90
Days post-close
Support available when most acquisition value is won or lost.
24
Month tail
Applied only where our introduction leads to completion.
£2m
Minimum EV
UK mid-market focus. No upper limit on deal size.
Meet the founder
Built by someone who has seen acquisitions from both sides of the table.
Mike Ferguson
Founder, Acquisitiv · ACCA Qualified
You have a mandate. You know broadly what you are looking for. But between that intent and a completed acquisition that actually delivers sits a process most buyers underestimate – and a market that is structurally set up to serve sellers and advisers, not you.
The pressure to pursue what is available rather than what is right. The deal momentum that makes it harder to challenge than to proceed. The integration plan that gets left until after completion, when it is already too late. These are not unusual experiences. They are the norm. And they are the reason 70-75% of acquisitions fail to deliver what was promised at the point of commitment.
Acquisitiv was built from 17 years of seeing this pattern from every angle. From working in a major investment bank, As a finance leader inside businesses post-acquisition trying to make them work – understanding first-hand where value leaks and why integration fails. As a corporate finance adviser running cross-border mandates across Europe, watching buyers repeat the same mistakes that a more honest advisory relationship would have prevented.
That experience is not incidental to what Acquisitiv does. It is the foundation of it. We know what a good acquisition looks like before the numbers are agreed. We know where the risks sit that do not appear in the information memorandum. And we know when to tell a client to walk away – because we have seen what happens when they do not.
Acquisition Readiness Review
Start before the market is approached.
The Acquisition Readiness Review tells you whether your mandate is ready to take to market – and what should be fixed before capital and leadership time are committed.
- Thesis clarity
- Target criteria
- Board alignment
- Origination route
- Execution risk
Output
A short written view on whether your acquisition mandate is ready to take to market, where it is exposed, and what should happen next.
How to start
1
First conversation
45 minutes. Your acquisition goals, timeline, and where the risk currently sits. No pitch. No deck. If there is no fit, we will say so.
2
Written proposal
Within 48 hours. Recommended scope, engagement structure, timeline, and first milestone. No ambiguity.
3
Engagement begins
Once agreed, we begin immediately. Milestones set at the start. First deliverable within the agreed timeframe.