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M&A

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A): preparing the business for a deal and supporting it through to completion

For the owner of a mid-sized business, an M&A deal happens once or twice in a lifetime — while the other side of the table buys companies for a living. We level the playing field: we prepare the business for the deal, put the numbers and processes in order, and support the negotiations and the integration — on the owner’s side.

Discuss your case →What we do

When you need us

Preparing to sell

You want to know what the company is really worth and what would raise its price in the 6–12 months before a deal.

A buyer has approached you

The buyer is already at the table, so you need to get ready for due diligence quickly and not let the company go below its market value.

You are the buyer

You are looking at a competitor or an adjacent business and need a realistic valuation and an integration plan, so that the synergies do not remain on paper.

After the deal

You have bought the company — now teams, processes, and accounting have to be brought together without losing people or clients.

What we do

1
Preparing for sale (vendor readiness)
A diagnostic through the buyer’s eyes: where the business carries red flags that will cut the price. Then we put things in order — management reporting, key contracts, dependence on the owner, the team. The result is a company that holds up under due diligence — and a clear equity story.
2
Deal support
A financial model and the reasoning behind the valuation, the deal materials (a teaser and an information memorandum), support in the negotiations, and coordination of lawyers and auditors. We do not replace your lawyers: our job is to keep the business logic of the deal from being lost in the documents.
3
Post-merger integration
A plan for the first 100 days: who runs what, what is merged right away, what is left untouched for a year. Retention of key people, alignment of processes and accounting. Integration is where most mid-market deals fall apart.

Case studies

M&A deal: a ₽45M acquisition

M&A for mid-market companies: how to buy and integrate without losses

Corporate governance for mid-sized businesses

FAQ

Ideally 6–12 months before the deal. That is enough time to remove most of the factors that pull the price down: put the reporting in order, reduce dependence on the owner, and lock in the team and the contracts.
Either side, but only one of them in any given deal. Most often we are hired by an owner who is selling, or by a mid-market buyer without an in-house M&A team.
An investment bank finds the buyer and runs the transaction. We do what comes before and after: we prepare the business itself for the deal and integrate it afterward. On the transaction we work alongside the client’s bank or lawyers.
It is the buyer’s review of the business: finance, law, tax, operations. The owners who fear it are the ones who did not prepare, because every finding gives the buyer an argument for a lower price. A company that has done the work goes through the review faster and at a better price.
The fee structure depends on our role: deal preparation is a fixed fee once the scope has been assessed, and transaction support is agreed case by case. We set out the terms after the first meeting.

Let’s discuss your project

Tell us about the situation — we’ll say honestly whether the business is deal-ready and what would raise its value.

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