Mergers & Acquisitions

Most owners sell a business once. The buyer across the table has usually done it many times. Our M&A service exists to remove that imbalance: chartered accountants and tax advisers who run the whole transaction with you — quietly, rigorously and with your net proceeds as the measure of success.

Whether you are selling the company you built, acquiring a competitor or backing a management team, we manage the process end to end. And because valuation, due diligence and tax sit under one roof, nothing falls between advisers and nobody bills you twice for the same analysis.

Selling a Business: Sell-Side M&A

The best exits are built long before the sale. We start with deal-readiness — cleaning up the numbers, resolving tax loose ends and reducing owner-dependency, ideally 12 to 24 months before going to market — because every issue a buyer finds in due diligence becomes a price reduction, and every issue fixed in advance stays in your pocket.

When you are ready, we value the business, prepare the information memorandum and approach buyers discreetly under NDA — competitors and staff hear about the sale when you choose, not before. Through offers, exclusivity and due diligence we manage the data room, respond to buyer queries and defend the price agreed in the heads of terms, so the number you shake hands on is the number you complete on. For a deeper view of the seller's journey, see our dedicated Selling Your Business advisory page.

Buying a Business: Buy-Side M&A

On the buy side we help you define acquisition criteria, identify and approach targets, and value the business on evidence rather than the seller's optimism. We coordinate financial, tax and commercial due diligence, advise on the choice between buying shares and buying assets, and structure the funding — bank debt, private equity, vendor loans and deferred consideration — so the deal is financeable and the covenants are survivable.

After completion we stay involved: completion accounts, integration of finance functions and systems, and tracking the synergies that justified the price.

Valuation and Deal Pricing

Every engagement is anchored by a robust valuation: earnings multiples benchmarked against comparable transactions, discounted cash flow where the growth story matters, and asset-based approaches where they fit. We normalise earnings for one-off items and owner costs, and model the working capital and net debt adjustments that so often move the final price more than the headline multiple does. Sellers learn what the business is really worth before a buyer tells them; buyers get an independent check on what they are about to pay.

Due Diligence

For buyers we deliver financial and tax due diligence — quality of earnings, working capital, debt and debt-like items, and tax exposures assessed with in-house Chartered Tax Adviser expertise. For sellers we run vendor due diligence so problems surface on your timetable, not the buyer's. Findings feed straight into price, warranties and indemnities rather than sitting in a report nobody uses.

Tax Structuring and Clearances

Deal tax is where net proceeds are won or lost. We advise on share versus asset sales, pre-sale reorganisations and demergers, earn-out and loan-note taxation, and HMRC clearance applications. For qualifying sellers, Business Asset Disposal Relief taxes the first £1 million of lifetime gains at 18% for disposals from 6 April 2026, against a main CGT rate of 24% — and eligibility depends on conditions that must be in place well before completion, which is exactly why tax planning belongs at the start of the process, not the end.

SPA and Completion Support

The sale and purchase agreement is where commercial terms become legal obligations. Working alongside your solicitors, we advise on the financial mechanics: warranties and disclosure, completion accounts versus locked-box pricing, earn-out definitions and measurement, and warranty and indemnity insurance. Our job is to make sure the numbers in the SPA say what you think they say.

Not a Full Transaction? See Specialist Advisory

M&A is our end-to-end deal service. For complex one-off problems that sit around or outside a transaction — demergers, shareholder disputes, restructurings, standalone valuations — our Specialist Advisory service is the right starting point, with the same partners and the same integrated team behind it.

What You Get With Acumon

• End-to-end deal management, buy side and sell side, under strict confidentiality
• Independent valuations and pricing strategy grounded in comparable evidence
• Financial, tax and commercial due diligence from one integrated team
• Tax structuring, HMRC clearances and Business Asset Disposal Relief planning
• SPA support: warranties, completion accounts, locked box and earn-out mechanics
• Funding support, from bank debt to private equity introductions
• Post-completion integration, completion accounts and synergy tracking

Why Acumon for Mergers & Acquisitions?

• Partner J Stuart Thomson is a former private equity principal who advised on a hospital PFI, the Croydon Tramlink debt restructuring and the NATS privatisation
• The firm has completed multiple successful acquisitions of its own, plus several MBOs and an MBI — we have sat on your side of the table
• Full-service firm of Chartered Accountants with 90+ UK-based professionals and an in-house Chartered Tax Adviser

Get a Fixed-Fee Quote

Tell us what you need and we'll come back within one business day with a clear scope and a fixed price — no hourly-rate surprises. Call 020 8567 3451 or use the form and we'll be in touch.