Collaboration Capital brings together the two strengths behind a successful international business acquisition: senior advisory expertise — project analysis, approaching owners, valuation and negotiation through to completion — and a powerful set of tools that maps the deals, buyers, advisers and lenders in your sector, so you can select the right transaction, from EUR 1 to 200 million, in 120 countries.
Every stage is handled by the same team, which has known your project since day one. The numbering below follows the actual sequence of a deal — each phase sets up the next.
Defining the target criteria (business, geography, size, profitability), the buyer's financial capacity and the intended structure. This is where the quality of everything that follows is decided.
Our sourcing engine builds the long list, which is then narrowed to a shortlist using documented scoring and the sector mapping described further down this page.
Organising meetings between buyer and seller, facilitating discussions and formalising mutual interest up to the letter of intent (LOI).
Organising meetings between buyer and seller, facilitating discussions and formalising mutual interest up to the letter of intent (LOI).
Structuring the data room under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), collecting and organising legal, financial, employment and tax documents, and coordinating due diligence with auditors and lawyers.
Multi-method valuation of the target (comparable sector transaction multiples, DCF, adjusted net asset value where relevant), tested against actual data from the deals recorded in the market.
Negotiating the price and terms, legal and financial structuring (acquisition debt, vendor financing, earn-out, warranties and indemnities), and coordinating both parties' advisers.
Satisfying the conditions precedent, finalising the legal documentation, drawing down the financing and transferring ownership. Then it is time to grow — with Connections.
Cross-border acquisitive growth is no longer reserved for large groups. For an SME or a mid-sized company, buying a business abroad serves four strategic purposes, often combined within the same project. The legal, tax and cultural differences to anticipate are covered in our article how to succeed with an M&A deal abroad.
Setting up organically abroad takes years: building a customer base, a local team and regulatory compliance. Acquiring an established business brings immediate revenue, ongoing contracts, trained staff and knowledge of local law — the buyer is buying time as much as assets.
In many sectors — facilities services, healthcare, vertical software, food and drink — consolidation is already under way at European level. Not buying often means becoming a target. A cross-border buy-and-build strategy gives you weight on pricing, lets you pool support functions and improves the group's value on exit.
Some assets cannot be bought separately from the company that holds them: proprietary technology, a regulatory authorisation, a sector certification, a rare engineering team. A targeted acquisition is then the fastest way — sometimes the only way — to bring these capabilities in-house.
Spreading your business across several economic areas reduces dependence on a single national cycle. Moreover, valuation multiples for the same business vary noticeably from one country to another: a close reading of these gaps can let you acquire on better terms than in your home market.
Before approaching a single target, you need to read the playing field. Our platform reconstructs, sector by sector and country by country, the history of completed deals and the identity of everyone involved in them: buyers, sellers, lawyers, auditors, banks and funds. Around ten indicators structure this analysis.
Example of an ecosystem reconstructed for a given sector — here, facilities services in French-speaking Europe. Each client project gets its own mapping.
Consolidated history of the sector's transactions — buyer, target, country, headcount
What this indicator tells you: the pace of transactions shows whether the sector is at the start, the height or the end of its consolidation cycle — and therefore whether time is on the buyer's side or not. Buyers' headcount growth over twelve months separates consolidators that genuinely integrate from those that simply stack up acquisitions.
The most active acquirers in the sector
How to read it: serial acquirers are both your competitors when buying and, in time, potential buyers of your own platform. Knowing them by name changes your approach strategy.
Breakdown of deals by target headcount
How to read it: here, more than one target in two has between 11 and 50 employees — the window where competition among buyers is fiercest, and where an off-market approach makes the difference.
Firms identified on the buy side and the sell side
How to read it: lawyers and auditors who come back from one deal to the next know the sector's practices — usual clauses, sticking points, warranty levels. Working with advisers who already know the business reduces execution risk.
Institutions that have financed deals in the sector
How to read it: knowing which banks and funds have already financed your sector, in which country and at what leverage, lets you build a credible financing plan before you even approach the target — and go straight to the right credit committees.
The best targets are not always for sale, and the targets for sale are not always the best. Our approach covers both sides of the market with the same standard of documentation.
Our sourcing engine continuously scans the companies in your sector across 120 countries — including those that have not started any sale process. Every target identified receives documented scoring: strategic fit, financial track record, signals that the business may be available (owner's age, shareholder structure, recent changes) and competitive position. You do not receive a list, but a reasoned file for each target.
The advantage: approaching an off-market target means negotiating without an auction. The price is built through the relationship with the owner, not through a competitive process. Our article buying a business off-market sets out the benefits, risks and best practice of this approach.
Some opportunities circulate among professionals before anything is published: sale mandates given to M&A boutiques, fund portfolios reaching the end of their cycle, special situations known to lawyers and auditors. Because we map the active advisers and lenders in each sector, we know who holds these mandates — and we introduce you to the right people at the right time.
The advantage: on-market, speed and credibility make the difference. Being introduced by an intermediary the seller knows is worth more than answering an advert.
A successful acquisition is not an end point: it is a platform for growth. Turning the deal into a growth path means maintaining, over time, a structured network of useful contacts — owner-managers in the sector, advisers, lenders and investors — and continuously tracking what other players are doing. That is exactly what Connections, the relationship module of our platform, does.
Example: 762 qualified contacts in the medical technology sector
Each contact is qualified by role (buyer, seller, adviser, fund, bank, auditor), sector, deal volume and relationship status. You can see who is active, who has moved recently and who needs to be re-engaged. Over the months, this relationship architecture becomes an asset: it keeps you informed about the direction other players in your business are taking and prepares your next deals — bolt-on acquisitions, bringing in an investor or lender, or selling the consolidated group.
Why it matters after completion: buy-and-build is a game of repetition. The second and third acquisitions happen faster and better when lenders already know you, the sector's advisers think of you, and target owners have already heard about your project. And between two deals, value is created through execution: our advice on integrating an acquired business successfully.
Each stage of your project is explored in depth in our free resources, written by the same team that runs the deals.
Method, valuation, deal structures and lessons learned
Browse all our articles on business acquisition, sale and financing.
Method, checklists and points to watch, in PDF format
All our practical guides on selling, buying and financing a business can be downloaded free of charge.
A company that is not formally for sale: no sale mandate is in progress and no competitive process is open. Identifying one requires systematic sourcing by sector and by country, followed by a direct, confidential approach to its owners. This is where the best-negotiated deals are found — our guide “Buying a business off-market” explains the process.
Depending on the sector, the target's country and the complexity of the financing, allow generally 9 to 18 months between scoping the project and completion. Sourcing and approaching targets often account for half of that time — precisely the phase our technology speeds up.
Past deals reveal who is consolidating the market, at what target size, and with which lawyers, auditors, banks and funds. This analysis helps you anticipate competition from other buyers, calibrate your valuation on real transactions and go directly to the lenders and investors who already know the business.
We advise on deals from EUR 1 to 200 million, in more than 120 countries. Collaboration Capital is an independent firm advising on acquisitions, disposals and financing, registered with ORIAS (the French register of insurance, banking and finance intermediaries) under no. 25000696, with no exclusive tie to any financial institution.
Tell us about your international business acquisition project: before our first conversation, we prepare an initial map of the deals, buyers, advisers and lenders in your sector.
An initial 30-minute discussion with a partner to define the scope of your divestment, acquisition, or financing project — with no obligation.
Reply within 24 business hours
Confidentiality guaranteed — NDA on request
IOBSP broker registered with ORIAS under no. 25000696