M&A deal sourcing · United Kingdom
The best acquisition targets are not for sale. Yet.
TwentyFourOS sources off-market acquisitions across the entire UK private market. A clear thesis goes in. Qualified conversations with owners who are genuinely open to a sale come out.
private UK companies in coverage. The whole market, not the visible slice that reaches brokers and databases.
Every search starts from the full market, so nothing is missed because a curator never added it.
Scope and fees agreed in writing before any work begins.
Most good companies never reach a broker.
By the time a business appears in a sale process, a filter has already been applied, and it is not a quality filter. The companies most worth owning are usually quietly profitable, closely held and not for sale, right up until someone asks properly.
Finding them is a coverage problem. Either you see the whole market, or you compete with everyone else for the part of it that chose to be visible.
Why the best targets never reach a brokerScreening
From 5.7 million companies to a shortlist you can defend.
Your thesis is applied to the entire market and narrows it in inspectable steps: sector, size and geography first, then succession and ownership signals. Every narrowing is an argument you can see and disagree with, which is what separates a screen from a black box.
If a thesis returns few genuine matches, you get a short list and our suggestions for loosening it. We never pad a shortlist to make it look like work.
Illustrative. Example counts from a specimen thesis, not a promise.
The process
Five steps, in the same order, every time.
Brief
You describe the acquisition in plain language: sector, geography, size, and what a good target looks like to you.
Sourcing plan
We reply with the screens we would run, an honest read of how many companies your brief is likely to surface, and written terms.
Your approval
Nothing moves without you. Approaches begin only once you have approved the target list and the wording of the approach.
Approaches in confidence
We approach owners in confidence, on behalf of a committed buyer, with a straight account of why we are writing.
Qualified introductions
Owners who are genuinely open to a conversation are introduced to you with their consent. You take it from there.
Coverage
The whole market, held in view.
Subscription databases show you the companies everyone else can see. Broker networks show you the companies that already want to sell. We built our own research infrastructure so that every engagement starts from the entire UK private market and narrows only by your thesis.
- Complete coverageAll 5.7 million private UK companies in scope for every search, hidden local firms included.
- Succession signalsOwnership, tenure and trajectory read together, to find owners approaching a transition.
- Thesis-driven screensYour criteria applied at full scale, and honestly: thin results are reported thin, never padded.
- Human qualificationEvery introduction preceded by a real conversation with the owner, never a mail merge.
How we work
Straight terms, patient work.
- Qualified conversationsWhat we deliver is owners who are genuinely open to talking, never promised transactions. A minority of owners respond to any approach; the ones who do are worth the call.
- Terms agreed up frontScope and fees in writing before any work starts, so you know exactly what you are buying. If your thesis is too narrow to source well, we say so before you spend anything.
- Consent throughoutOwners are approached in confidence, and introduced to you only with their consent.
- A clear roleResearch and introductions only. We do not advise, value or negotiate. Our work is limited to whole-business transfers and is not FCA-regulated activity.
Illustrative. Off-market response rates are always a minority.
Insights
Visit Insights
Why the best acquisition targets never reach a broker
The visible market for private companies is a filtered sample, and the filter is not quality. What that means for anyone trying to buy well.
Reading succession signals in private companies
No owner announces a transition in advance. But the way a company is held usually says it first, if you know how to read it.
What thesis-driven sourcing means for UK acquirers
Browsing listings is not a strategy. How a written thesis changes what you find, who you call, and how the first conversation goes.
Start
Tell us what you are looking to buy.
Send the thesis the way you would say it out loud. We reply with a sourcing plan and written terms before you commit to anything.