08M&A
The final stage, where value is realised.
EY’s 2026 study of private equity exits found 86% of firms reporting that exit preparation improved their valuation, with the strongest results where preparation began twelve to twenty-four months before sale. What is done in the two years before a sale decides what the sale is worth.
EY, Global Private Equity Exit Readiness Study 2026, 2 June 2026
M&A in practice
A sale, a merger, a spin-off of part of the business, or a partial release. Prepared thoroughly, then run with specialist corporate finance advisers and lawyers.
A business is worth the most to the buyer who does not have to fix it. The seven preceding stages make a credible sale possible, through sustainable earnings, reliable reporting systems, a management team that does not depend on one person and a growth story that can be evidenced.
Routes to realising value
So this stage is about realising it. Sometimes that is a sale to a trade buyer or another investor. Sometimes a merger, where two businesses are worth more together. Sometimes separating a part that is worth more owned by someone else. Sometimes a partial release, taking value out while continuing to run it.
Before the process starts
We prepare the business before the process starts: the evidence pack, the numbers that will be tested, and the dependencies a buyer will find. Then advisers run the process. We are not brokers and we do not run auctions.
What we do as owner
The work is done and the value is realised. A sale, a merger, a spin-off of part of it, or a partial release, prepared before the process starts and run with advisers.
- Exit readiness assessed against what a buyer will test
- Financial and operating data that survives a buyer’,s accountants
- Reporting history, so improvement is evidenced rather than asserted
- Reducing dependency on any one person, including our own
- Customer and supplier concentration addressed before it is discovered
- Contracts, licences and records in order before they are requested
- Sale to a trade buyer
- Sale to another investor
- Merger, where two businesses are worth more combined
- Spin-off or carve-out of a part worth more elsewhere
- Partial release, taking value out while continuing to own it
- Sale to management or an employee ownership trust
- Choosing and managing corporate finance, legal and tax advisers
- Vendor due diligence, so what a buyer finds is not a surprise
- The information a buyer needs, prepared once and properly
- Management time protected, so the business does not stall during a sale
- Structure: what is cash, what is deferred, and what is left contingent
- Standalone cost modelling and the standalone build
- Transition service agreements: designed, priced and exited
- Data separation, ring-fencing and supplier separation
- Stranded cost, and how it comes out
- People and operating-model transition
For owners who are not seeking a sale, the same capability is available as an executive mandate through Advisory.