Corporate Advisory

Section overview

Strategic advice for the decisions that shape a business.

From acquisitions and exits to restructuring and financial leadership, we advise owners and boards with the insight of corporate financiers, accountants and corporate lawyers combined.

Business owners and an adviser reviewing a deal structure around a boardroom table

The most important decisions a business makes are rarely routine.

Buying a competitor, selling to a new owner, bringing in investment or reorganising a group all carry risk, and they all depend on getting the structure right before the funding is sought.

Our corporate advisory team works with owners and boards to plan, structure and deliver those decisions. Because we also arrange the finance, our advice is grounded in what lenders will actually support, and transactions move from plan to completion without losing momentum.

See advisory services
  • Sell side M&A and exit planning

    For owners considering a sale, we prepare the business, identify and approach suitable buyers, manage the process and negotiate terms that protect value. Preparation begins well before a buyer is found: clean financials, a clear equity story and early resolution of issues that would otherwise surface in due diligence.

  • Buy side acquisitions

    For acquirers, we identify and assess targets, review financial performance, advise on valuation and deal structure, and arrange acquisition finance. We help buyers pay the right price, in the right form, with funding that leaves the enlarged business on a secure footing.

  • Transaction structuring

    Share or asset purchase, deferred consideration, earn outs, vendor finance, holding company structures and working capital arrangements. We design structures that work commercially, satisfy lenders and anticipate the tax and legal issues the client's other advisers will need to address.

  • Financial due diligence support

    A clear, commercially focused review of the target's accounts, trading, cash flow, liabilities and risks; so buyers understand what they are acquiring and lenders can proceed with confidence.

  • Restructuring and group reorganisation

    Holding company insertions, separation of trading and property assets, demergers and group simplification, together with balance sheet restructuring and refinancing for businesses under pressure. Early engagement keeps the widest range of options open.

  • Strategic CFO advisory

    Senior financial leadership without a full time appointment: board reporting, cash flow forecasting, business planning, lender relationships and support through periods of growth, change or transaction.

  • Funding readiness and business planning

    Business plans, financial forecasts and funding proposals prepared to the standard lenders and investors expect, so applications are credible from the first submission.

  • Shareholder matters and succession

    Shareholder exits, management buyouts, family succession and changes in ownership, structured so that the business continues to trade strongly throughout.

Engagements

How advisory engagements work

Every engagement begins with a confidential conversation to understand the business and the owners' objectives. We then set out a clear scope, timetable and fee in an engagement letter before work begins.

  1. A confidential conversation

    We start by understanding the business and the owners' objectives.

  2. Scope, timetable and fee

    Set out clearly in an engagement letter before any work begins.

  3. Plan to completion

    We deliver the work, and arrange the finance where the transaction needs it.

Advisory fees are agreed separately from any lender commission, so clients always know what they are paying for and why.

In confidence

Considering an acquisition, exit or restructuring?

Speak to our advisory team in confidence.

Arrange a confidential discussion
  • Acquisitions
  • Exits
  • Restructuring
  • Succession