Our private equity team is dedicated to providing your business with everything it needs to thrive.

We offer specialist and tailored advice for your investment strategies using a variety of our in-depth knowledge.

Have you read our summary report on buy and build platforms?

We collaborated with University of Birmingham MBA student, James Oyuke, to explore some key questions.

Due diligence

We are the 'go-to' team within our specialist sectors with high levels of repeat referrals.

Our specialist team are dedicated to transaction support services, led by our experienced partners, directors and managers with our typical deal sizes ranging from £1 million to £50 million Enterprise Value.

Our team is adept at recreating data from smaller targets with limited or unsophisticated accounting data. Our access to a large volume of benchmark data sets across specialist sectors allows for real time benchmarking and quick and clear identification of under/overperformance.

We can also assist your business in the following areas:

Identifying the real underlying profitability of targets with a 'bottom-up' approach;
Multi stage reporting process allowing for early identification of 'red flag' issues to save time and cost;
Assistance with SPA negotiation regarding issues identified during due diligence;
Banking/re-finance reporting; and
Vendor led due diligence.

Audit and assurance

We believe in building constructive relationships with our audit clients in order to make your experience of audit as pain-free as possible.

This comprises a positive relationship with both the PE investor house and the management teams running the businesses.

We have acted as auditors to dozens of PE backed businesses over the past 15 years and are well versed in relevant audit issues impacting them, such as:

Presentation of profit and loss, and balance sheet;
Treatment of goodwill;
Deal fees;
Debt costs;
Exceptional and non-recurring costs;
Intra-group loans; and
Shareholder debt.

Our PE sector specialism is well known particularly in the social care, veterinary and dental sectors and our audit process includes advising clients in advance about issues that will become relevant during the exit process.

We have retained many of our audit clients following the exit process, through to new ownership which demonstrates the strength of our relationships with both management teams and the PE backers.

Advisory/transaction support

Our private equity advisory team can approach and negotiate with potential targets on behalf of private equity investors (for platforms) or investee companies (for bolt-ons).

Our acquisition advisory service also includes valuation, deal structure, tax issues completion mechanics and working capital. We will work alongside your management team to provide advisory services on MBOs etc. as well as full sell-side advisory services for either entire business or carve outs of underperforming (but not distressed) assets.

We can also provide the following sector research for your business:

Reviewing sector and sub-sector for acquisition strategies and target acquisition opportunities.
Various Freedom of Information requests and reports across specialist sectors.

Tax

Our private equity tax team are specialists in advising portfolio companies.

We work closely with the audit and corporate finance teams to ensure a joined up service covering the particular tax issues that private equity investments face.

Structuring through the lifecycle of the investment from organising a platform company, acquisition advice, tax due diligence, corporate tax planning and exit planning.
Tax treatment of financing including thin capitalisation, hybrid entity and corporate interest analysis.
Designing tax efficient management incentive schemes.
Managing the rapid growth of acquisitive buy-and-build structures.