Investor Relations · For advisers and intermediaries
A buyer that answers.
The Group’s criteria are published, its response times are stated, and it does what it says in a process. If a mandate fits the buy box, the Group will tell you so within days; if it does not, it will tell you that too, so that your time is not spent.
The buy box, for your files.
Profitable, founder-owned and corporate-owned businesses in commerce operations, commerce software, marketing and retail media, fulfilment, cybersecurity services, telecommunications, and recruitment; revenue from £5m with no ceiling; verified EBITDA of £1m or more; a margin of at least ten per cent after platform fees and returns; at least 40 per cent of revenue returning or contracted; a second line of management; stock in the United Kingdom, the European Union, or the United States; Europe and the Americas now, the Middle East and Asia to follow.
Control in one of three forms: the whole business, a majority joint venture, or a partnership with a right of first offer. Six lines are enough: sector and what the business sells; where it trades and where its stock sits; revenue and EBITDA for the last three years, with the basis of the EBITDA; the share of revenue from returning or contracted customers; ownership and the reason for the sale; and the process you intend to run.
Screened in days, offered in writing.
Every teaser is screened against the buy box by the Chief Executive. Where it fits, the Group’s investment committee considers an indicative offer within five working days of screening, and a letter of intent follows within ten working days of access to the data room. Every letter carries a response date of five to seven business days; every decline is given in writing with its reason.
What you can tell your client.
The Group does not take part in auctions. It does not negotiate materially on its own terms after it has submitted them, and it does not re-trade a price it has offered except for a matter the diligence uncovers, downward only and in writing. It seeks sixty days of exclusivity, with one extension of thirty, as the condition of confirmatory diligence, and it treats a vendor who will not grant exclusivity as not yet a vendor. It uses advisers of institutional calibre on every transaction and pays for its own diligence. When a response date passes without an answer, the Group turns its attention elsewhere and says so.
Terms agreed before the introduction.
The Group works with regional corporate-finance boutiques, brokers, and professional intermediaries, and recognises introductions on terms agreed in writing before the introduction is made.
Contact
Send the Group what you are running.
Attach a teaser, or describe the mandate in a paragraph. The Chief Executive’s office replies within two working days.