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Mergers & Acquisitions

The deal is made or lost in the detail.

Full-lifecycle M&A advisory — from strategy and target identification through diligence, execution, and post-merger integration. Led by senior operators who have sat on both sides of the deal table.

The Operator's Edge
$220M
Scaled from $15M
before acquisition by NCR
20+ Years Personal M&A Track Record

Most M&A advisers have never actually sold a business they built.

Andrew Collins has. He scaled Service Industries Ltd from $15 million to $220 million in revenue and led the company through its acquisition by NCR Corporation. He has sat in the founder's seat during diligence, held the line in negotiation, and lived the post-close integration from the inside.

That operator perspective sits at the heart of Grant & Graham's M&A practice. We are not a deal-sourcing agency. We are not a banker selling financing alongside advice. We are senior practitioners who have built businesses, sold businesses, bought businesses, and integrated businesses — and who bring that lived experience into every mandate.

Over more than two decades, our team has delivered M&A work for founder-led companies, private equity portfolios, and multinationals including Philips, Dell, and Samsung — spanning FinTech, IT, Telecom, Energy, Insurance, SaaS, and consumer sectors.

What We Do

Full-lifecycle M&A advisory. Not just the deal.

From the first conversation about strategy to the moment value lands on the balance sheet — we operate across the entire deal lifecycle, for both buyers and sellers.

01 · STRATEGY & ORIGINATION

Strategy & Origination

Whether you are the buyer or the seller, the deal starts long before the term sheet. We set the strategy, define the commercial logic, and identify the right counterparties.

What's included
  • Corporate M&A and divestiture strategy
  • Target identification and buy-side screening
  • Sell-side positioning and buyer mapping
  • Market, competitor, and regulatory analysis
02 · VALUATION & DILIGENCE

Valuation & Due Diligence

The work that either protects the deal or exposes the problems in time. We value the business honestly, stress-test the assumptions, and find what others miss.

What's included
  • Business valuation and financial modelling
  • Commercial, financial, and operational diligence
  • Risk identification and mitigation planning
  • Data room preparation and vendor diligence
03 · NEGOTIATION & EXECUTION

Negotiation & Execution

Every deal has a moment where leverage shifts. Being prepared for that moment is the difference between the deal closing on your terms and closing on theirs.

What's included
  • Term sheet and deal structuring
  • Negotiation strategy and direct negotiation support
  • Transaction documentation oversight
  • Regulatory and cross-border compliance coordination
04 · POST-MERGER INTEGRATION

Post-Merger Integration

Roughly 70% of M&A deals fail to deliver their projected value. Almost always, it is integration that breaks — not strategy. We stay involved well past close.

What's included
  • Target operating model design and delivery
  • Cultural and leadership integration
  • Synergy realisation and value capture tracking
  • Change management and stakeholder communications
The Deal Lifecycle

Five phases from first conversation to value realised.

A disciplined framework applied to every mandate. You know what happens at each stage, what we deliver, and how we measure success.

01

Strategy

Clarify the commercial objective, deal thesis, and criteria for a successful transaction — before any counterparty is engaged.

02

Identify

Target or buyer mapping, approach strategy, and confidential outreach. We run the search; you make the call on who enters the process.

03

Diligence

Commercial, financial, and operational diligence alongside valuation and risk work. Problems surfaced in time, not in surprise.

04

Close

Negotiation support, term sheet and structuring, documentation oversight, and coordination with legal, tax, and regulatory advisers to close.

05

Integrate

Operating model, culture, synergy capture, and value tracking. We stay involved so the deal delivers — not just signs.

Track Record

Real transactions. Real operators.

A selection of deals our team has led or advised on — from founder-led sell-sides through strategic integrations with global multinationals.

Sell-Side · Founder-Led
Service Industries Ltd
Scaled from $15 million in revenue to $220 million over several years, then led the business through a full sale process to NCR Corporation. The deal sits at the core of our founder's operator M&A experience.
$15M → $220M Revenue growth before acquisition by NCR
Post-Merger Integration
Sona Business
Led the operational integration following a strategic merger — consolidating business units, rationalising systems, and streamlining operations. Realised value-capture inside the first twelve months.
12 Months From close to realised synergy capture
Project-Based Advisory
Philips · Dell · Samsung
Project-based M&A and transaction advisory support across commercial diligence, valuation work, post-merger integration, and change management for global multinationals.
Multiple Mandates Across diligence, integration, and transformation
Why Grant & Graham

Operators, not just advisers. There is a difference.

Six reasons founders, boards, and PE firms keep bringing us back into their most important transactions.

01

Operator DNA

Our founder scaled and sold his own business. Our senior consultants are former CEOs, CFOs, and CROs — not career bankers.

02

Full-lifecycle

From pre-deal strategy through post-merger integration. Not just the close — the value realisation that comes after.

03

Buy-side and sell-side

We act for acquirers, sellers, and strategic investors. Mandate-by-mandate, never in conflict.

04

Cross-border capability

18 offices across five continents and consultants in 100+ jurisdictions. International deal complexity is daily work.

05

Sector depth

FinTech, IT, Telecom, Energy, Insurance, SaaS, E-commerce, Consumer Electronics. Where we take mandates, we know the buyer.

06

Transparent pricing

Clear fee structure agreed upfront. No hidden success fees, no surprise tail fees, no billing games after close.

Sector Experience

Deal experience across more than 20 sectors.

We take M&A mandates only where our team has genuine sector knowledge — or where a senior G&G consultant with direct operating experience leads the engagement.

FinTech & Payments IT & Technology SaaS Telecom Energy Insurance Legal & LawTech Consumer Electronics E-commerce & Retail Aerospace & Defence Cyber Security Healthcare & Life Sciences EdTech Industrial Tech Professional Services Media & Entertainment AI & Data Hospitality & Travel
Frequently Asked

What people want to know before they bring us into a deal.

What exactly does Grant & Graham do in M&A?

Full-lifecycle M&A advisory — corporate strategy, target or buyer identification, valuation and diligence, negotiation and execution, and post-merger integration. We act for both buyers and sellers on a mandate-by-mandate basis. We are not a bank arranging financing, and we are not a deal-sourcing agency; we are the senior operator and strategic adviser you want in the room when the deal gets real.

What size deals do you work on?

Our primary focus is mid-market transactions — typically deals with enterprise values between roughly £5 million and £250 million. We also support smaller strategic deals, carve-outs, and larger divestitures where they form part of a broader transformation or group strategy mandate.

Do you act for buyers or sellers?

Both. Grant & Graham's founder has personally been on the sell side of his own business — scaling Service Industries Ltd from $15 million to $220 million before selling to NCR. That operator experience informs how we approach every mandate, buy-side or sell-side. We take each engagement on its own merits and never act for both parties in the same transaction.

Which sectors do you cover?

We have direct deal experience in FinTech, Payments, IT, Telecom, SaaS, Energy, Insurance, E-commerce, Legal Tech, and Consumer Electronics. Where we take mandates outside these areas, we pair with senior Grant & Graham consultants who have direct operating experience in the target industry — so the team running your deal actually knows your market.

Can you handle cross-border transactions?

Yes. With 18 offices across five continents and senior consultants active in 100+ jurisdictions, cross-border complexity is core to the practice. We have led or advised on transactions spanning Europe, the Middle East, APAC, and the Americas — covering the regulatory, tax structural, currency, and cultural dimensions that international M&A demands.

Do you do post-merger integration, or just deal execution?

Both — and we consider the post-merger work critical. Industry data consistently shows that roughly 70% of M&A deals fail to deliver their projected value, and integration underinvestment is the single most common cause. We stay engaged well past close, with dedicated integration mandates covering operating model, culture, leadership, synergy capture, and value tracking.

How are your fees structured?

Most mandates are structured as a fixed retainer plus a success fee aligned to deal close. Integration work is scoped and priced separately, typically on a day-rate or project-fixed basis. Every engagement is bespoke and quoted transparently upfront — no hidden tail fees, no surprise billings after close. We will walk you through the full fee structure during the discovery conversation.

How does an engagement start?

A 25-minute discovery call with a senior Grant & Graham partner — no deck, no preamble. We listen to what you are trying to achieve, ask the hard questions up front, and give you an honest read on whether we are the right team for the mandate. If we are not, we will say so.

Start the Conversation

Tell us about the deal.
We will tell you honestly if we can help.

Buying, selling, integrating, or exploring the strategy — a 25-minute discovery call is enough for both sides to know whether Grant & Graham is the right team for your transaction.