Buy-Side M&A Advisory: Target Search to Signing

/ 01

Who we have run a buy-side search for

spectup has run 150+ mandates since 2022, across capital raising and M&A.

**Laurent Truc***SVP Business Development, Society Brands*

be

CreatorIQ

PopMeals

Society Brands

GORD

KLAYD

Lane Health

Imperative VC

Simplifai

OnePulse

BREATHE

+150 more

Mandatesclosed since 2022, capital raising and M&A150+

Advised on M&Abuy-side and sell-side transactions$150M+

Raised, placed and advisedacross every mandate since 2022$760M+

Investor, LP and acquirer relationshipsevery one out of a closed transaction440+

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Buy-side transactions we have run

Open any row. Named where the client has agreed to it, and carrying sector, structure and size band where they have not.

YearTransactionSectorSideSize
A consumer brand that was never on the market, bought by a platform that had never been shown it. spectup built the universe, approached the owner directly and ran the process to signing.

Sector
Consumer and food

Side
Buy-side

Structure
Platform acquisition

Region
United States

Size
~$12M

Year
2024

spectup acted for the buyer, and was paid by the buyer
A live buy-side mandate for a sponsor building a services platform. Details are withheld under NDA until the process completes.

Sector
Business services

Side
Buy-side

Structure
Platform

Region
Europe

Size
$25–50M

Year
Active

spectup acted for the buyer, and was paid by the buyer
An add-on for an existing platform, sourced off-market against a thesis the sponsor had already written. The owner had not run a process and was not planning one.

Sector
Manufacturing

Side
Buy-side

Structure
Add-on

Region
DACH

Size
EUR 10–25M

Year
2026

spectup acted for the buyer, and was paid by the buyer
An owner-managed installer approached directly on a succession trigger, with the acquirer's name withheld until the second conversation.

Sector
Building products

Side
Buy-side

Structure
Bolt-on

Region
Europe

Size
EUR 10–25M

Year
2023

spectup acted for the buyer, and was paid by the buyer
A distribution business bought for its geography. Screened out of a universe of forty on ownership structure before anyone was contacted.

Sector
Specialty distribution

Side
Buy-side

Structure
Bolt-on

Region
Europe

Size
Undisclosed

Year
2023

spectup acted for the buyer, and was paid by the buyer

Discuss an acquisition

/ 03

The same company, eighteen months apart

Nothing about the business changes between these two cards. What changes is how much of the transaction you still decide, and spectup is mandated to reach the company while the card on the left is still true.

Before a process is running

One owner, and nobody has asked

The company is not for sale, so there is no deadline, no data room and no second bidder. Everything below is still yours to set.

What you still decide

The timetable you and the owner set it
Price discovery one bilateral conversation
Exclusivity granted before diligence spend
Information what you ask for, when you ask
Structure earn-out, rollover, staged payment
The owner direct, months before terms

What it takes A search, six to twelve months, and a partner who calls the owner

Once a process is running

Every seat at the table is taken

An adviser sets the timetable, the information goes to everyone on the same day, and the terms arrive already written.

What is decided for you

The timetable the seller’s adviser sets it
Price discovery bids against a deadline
Exclusivity won at the end, if at all
Information a data room, opened to everyone at once
Structure cash, to match the other bids
The owner through an intermediary

What it takes A best offer, on their date, against three to ten others

Every line in the left card is available for exactly as long as nobody else is asking. A buy-side mandate exists to reach a company while that card is still true.

/ 04

Why an owner takes spectup’s call

A company that is not for sale has no reason to answer. Three things decide whether it does, and spectup owns all three.

01 · The network

Someone can vouch for you

→Why

01 · The network

Someone can vouch for you

440+ acquirers, sponsors, lenders and LPs, every one of them out of a transaction we closed. An owner who will not take a cold call will take one that arrives through a name they already trust.

440+direct relationships

02 · The technology

You call in the week it matters

→Why

02 · The technology

You call in the week it matters

Our own signal engine watches for the week an owner becomes receptive: a succession, a funding gap, a competitor selling, a fund past its hold period. Valicon.ai holds the primary data it is checked against. Both built in house.

2systems we own outright

03 · The media

They have heard of us already

→Why

03 · The media

They have heard of us already

A million impressions a year, a podcast with 8,000 listeners, and a letter read by 2,000 B2B financial decision makers. An owner who has been reading us for a year is not taking a cold call.

1Mimpressions a year

None of these is a target list. A list tells you which companies exist. These three decide whether the owner picks up.

Bring the thesis and spectup builds the universe it implies, then makes the approaches itself.

Request a call

/ 05

A spectup partner makes the call, and takes the one that comes back

No analyst, no sequence, no list handed down. What we know before the call, what the owner actually hears, and what reaches you the same week.

The file on one targetBefore anyone is called

Who has to say yes

Why now: A dated signal trigger
The fit: Your thesis, in your words
The line in: A shared relationship

Held on every name that survives the screen. The route in can also be their adviser, or direct.

The call itselfMade by a partner

Said on the callThe owner

Mandated by one acquirer
Why this company
The second call
The owner decides

Never said

A price
A deadline
Your other targets

Never that the company is for sale. Made in your name or on a no-names basis, set in the mandate.

The approach log The week the call is made

No
No answer

Not now

Wants to talk

ClosedGoes on

Every answer logged with its reason. A no is closed, and no name is approached twice on one thesis.

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Who we take a mandate from, and who we turn down

An acquisition search is six to twelve months of one desk’s attention, so we take a small number of mid-market mandates at a time.

Who we run a search for

Corporates and enterprises
Sponsors
Portfolio companies
Family offices
Holdcos
Buy-and-build programmes

Buying to enter a market, to consolidate one, or to hold. Client type is rarely the deciding factor; what follows is.

✓We take the mandate We pass×

An acquirer who can write the thesis down: what it buys, why now, and what it is worth to you specifically.

“Show us what is out there.” A search without a thesis produces a list, and a list is not a transaction.

A universe with real depth. Twenty credible targets is a search.

Three names and an introduction. That is not a mandate, and we would be charging you for a phone call.

Funding certainty, so an owner can see the money is real.

No funding certainty. Owners work out quickly whether a buyer can actually pay, and so do we.

A timeline that allows a real process, six to twelve months.

An acquisition that has to sign in weeks. Owners who are not selling do not move to someone else’s deadline.

A transaction where it is clear which side we are on.

Both sides of the same transaction. We are mandated by one side and paid by that side only.

Not sure which side you are on? That is what the first call is for, and a partner takes it.

Discuss your mandate

/ 07

Cross-border buy-side M&A, by region

spectup is mandated out of Munich and runs cross-border acquisition searches across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. An owner in a country you have no line into does not take the call at all.

Buy-side M&A advisory in the United States and Canada. Owners, corporates and sponsors in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Toronto.

/ 08

spectup, a deal database, another buy-side advisor, or your own team

Four ways to find an acquisition. These are structural differences between the models, so you can see which one fits.

spectup

An AI deal database

Another buy-side advisor

Your corp dev team

What you get

spectupA search, run by the partners you met on the first call, for the whole term.

AI databaseA very good list. It will find companies you had not heard of, and it has never spoken to one of them.

Another advisorA process, usually run off the same licensed data, and a team you meet after the pitch.

Corp devThe search you already run, on top of everything else that desk owns.

Who calls the owner

spectupA partner, by name, in your name or ours as the mandate specifies.

AI databaseNobody. A phone number is not an introduction, and enrichment is not a relationship.

Another advisorOften an analyst, working a list, on a sequence.

Corp devYour own people, in your own name. An owner who says no has said no to you.

When the approach lands

spectupOn a trigger our own signal detection picked up.

AI databaseWhenever you get to that row.

Another advisorOn the outreach schedule, not on a trigger.

Corp devWhen the desk has capacity, which is rarely the week the trigger appears.

Sides

spectupOne. Mandated by the acquirer and paid by that side only.

AI databaseNone. It is a data product.

Another advisorOne, usually. Ask which, and ask who else they act for in your sector.

Corp devOne, yours, with no question about it. This is the model’s real advantage.

What it costs

spectupRetainer plus a capped transaction fee. Most of it only lands if a transaction does.

AI databaseA licence fee, whether you transact or not.

Another advisorRetainer and a success fee, on a similar shape to ours.

Corp devSalaried, so it costs the same whether the search runs or stalls.

In a live process the work moves from finding to not overpaying: valuation discipline, a walk-away number agreed with you in advance, and diligence run hard enough to justify the bid. We will tell you when the honest answer is to stand down.

Selling instead, or still deciding M&A advisory covers both sides

Buy-side mandate

One written thesis, a universe built against it, and a partner on every call from the first approach to signing.

Six to twelve months. A monthly retainer while the search runs, then one transaction fee at signing, capped in the mandate before any work starts.

Talk to a partner

/ 09

How a buy-side mandate runs, from thesis to signing

Drawn to scale on a twelve-month axis, so you can see where the time actually goes. A partner runs all six stages. There is no handover to an analyst after the pitch.

01Thesis Week 1 Written criteria and timetable
02Universe Weeks 2 to 3 Built against the criteria, with a reason per name
03Shortlist Weeks 3 to 5 Screened, ranked, signed off
04Approach Week 5 onward Owners called by a partner, every answer logged
05Diligence Month 4 to 10 Data room, tracker, live pipeline
06Signing Month 9 to 12 Terms agreed through to signing

The stages overlap, because in a live process they do, and a partner runs all six.

Get a search proposal

/ 10

The spectup partners who run your search

Two partners, and the same two on the mandate from the first call to signing. Nobody is handed to an analyst after the pitch.

Niclas Schlopsna

Managing Partner

Started spectup in Berlin in 2022. He decides which mandates the firm takes, and holds the line on price when the counterparty tests it.

LeadsSales, marketing and strategy

Previously N26 logo

Edwin Mik

Partner & Head of Origination

He has read mandates from the investor’s side of the table. He works out who is allocating now, and which of the 440+ relationships is the right first call.

LeadsInvestor relations, ecosystems and operations

Previously Barclays logo

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What a buy-side search costs, and when you pay it

Buy-side advisory is priced as a retainer while the search runs and a transaction fee if it signs. The retainer buys a search that may find nothing, and the transaction fee sits on a number you want to be low.

Monthly retainer+Transaction fee

Kickoff Signing

Mandate term

9 monthly retainers while the search runs, then one transaction fee at signing.

01 The retainer

The universe build, the screening, the approaches and process management through diligence. Flat for the term, because the work is.

02 The transaction fee

A percentage of transaction value, capped in the mandate before any work starts. Paid only if a transaction signs.

There is no rate card. Both are set against transaction size, structure and jurisdictions, and you have them in writing after the first call. Funds running a buy-and-build against one thesis are scoped as one programme.

Get a search proposal

The rest of the M&A practice

This page is the buy side. If you are on the other side of the table, or still deciding which side you are on, these are the pages to read.

The other side Sell-side M&A advisorySelling the company instead. A single bidder sets the price on its own, so the work is making sure there are others. Both sides M&A advisoryThe practice this desk sits inside, buy-side and sell-side, and the transactions behind both. Money in, not out Private placement agentRaising capital rather than spending it on an acquisition. The firm About spectupWho runs the mandate, the transactions behind the desk and how spectup is paid.

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Buy-side questions we answer on every first call

The questions that come up on almost every first call.

01What is buy-side M&A advisory?

Being mandated by the acquirer. The advisor turns an acquisition thesis into written target criteria, builds and screens a universe of companies against it, approaches owners directly including companies that were never for sale, and runs diligence and the process through to signing.

02How do you find targets that are not for sale?

Most of the universe on a buy-side mandate is off-market. Those companies are found by building the universe from the thesis, screening every name on ownership as well as on financials, and having a partner approach the owner directly. A company that has never run a process has simply never been asked.

03What are the typical fees for buy-side M&A advisory?

M&A advisory fees on the buy side are two figures. A monthly retainer covers the universe build, screening, outreach and process management, plus a success fee on completion as a percentage of transaction value. There is no rate card: both are set against transaction size, structure and jurisdictions, and both are capped in the mandate before any work begins. You have the figures in writing after the first call.

04What if the company we want is already in a sale process?

Then it is a different job with a different chance of working, and we will say so. In a live process an adviser holds the timetable, the data room opens to everyone on the same day, and you are bidding against three to ten others on the same information. The work moves from finding to not overpaying: valuation discipline, a walk-away number agreed with you in advance, and diligence run hard enough to justify the bid. We will also tell you when the honest answer is to stand down.

05How long does a buy-side mandate take?

Six to twelve months from thesis to signing is typical. The universe build and screening run in the first weeks, outreach starts once you have signed off the shortlist, and the rest depends on how many targets convert to dialogue and how clean diligence is.

06Do you run buy-side due diligence?

We manage buy-side due diligence as a process and coordinate the workstreams: data room, question tracking and the schedule between your counsel, your accountants and the other side. Financial, legal and tax due diligence, including quality of earnings, is performed by your own advisors. We make sure it happens on time and that what it finds reaches the negotiation.

07Can you keep our name out of the approach?

Yes. The mandate specifies whether the approach is made in your name or on a no-names basis, and it can differ target by target. Nothing is disclosed without your instruction.

08Do you do post-merger integration?

No. We run the transaction to signing and hand over cleanly. Integration is an operating job that belongs with your own team and, where it is needed, a specialist firm. An advisor who sells you both is selling you the second on the strength of the first.

09Do you run buy-and-build and bolt-on acquisitions?

Yes. Funds and their portfolio companies are a core client type, including a buy-and-build run as one programme against a single thesis.

10Is spectup a registered broker-dealer in the US?

spectup’s U.S.-related activities are conducted under SEC Rule 15a-6 through a chaperoning arrangement with a U.S. registered broker-dealer that is a FINRA and SIPC member. We are fully compliant.

Buy-side M&A advisory The best company is never listed.

Who we have run a buy-side search for

Buy-side transactions we have run

The same company, eighteen months apart

One owner, and nobody has asked

Every seat at the table is taken

Why an owner takes spectup’s call

Someone can vouch for you

Someone can vouch for you

You call in the week it matters

You call in the week it matters

They have heard of us already

They have heard of us already

A spectup partner makes the call, and takes the one that comes back

Who we take a mandate from, and who we turn down

Cross-border buy-side M&A, by region

spectup, a deal database, another buy-side advisor, or your own team

How a buy-side mandate runs, from thesis to signing

The spectup partners who run your search

Niclas Schlopsna

Edwin Mik

What a buy-side search costs, and when you pay it

The rest of the M&A practice

Buy-side questions we answer on every first call

The company you want is not on the market.

Two systems, one approach

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