Cairneagle Consulting: M&A

Cairneagle has advised on over 50 acquisitions ranging from multi-billion pound transactions to deals worth under £10m. In addition to Cairneagle-led activity, our senior team has considerable prior experience of leading M&A transactions both as corporate financiers and as M&A directors within blue-chip corporations. Cairneagle is in a unique position to support companies with their corporate finance strategies, transactions and fundraising initiatives. We bring together our consulting, venturing, fundraising and corporate finance backgrounds to provide independent, robust and creative advice on how to successfully create value from mergers and acquisitions.

Mergers, acquisitions and divestments strategy
Our approach to M&A advisory ties in very closely with our strategy consulting practice. Based on our detailed knowledge of the client and the marketplace, we determine which areas you should be investing in and which parts are underperforming or unaligned and should therefore be divested. We turn this strategy into an acquisition or divestment plan with clear timetables and valuation metrics.

Alliances & partnerships
Strategic partnerships can prove to be low risk approaches to growing revenue and exploiting new markets. However, choosing the right partner, and more importantly, structuring the relationship advantageously, is critical to the success of any alliance. Cairneagle has significant experience in creating partnerships and consortia, either acting as an independent third party, or finding partners and structuring agreements to protect the interests of the client and maximise the long term commercial benefits.

Commercial and strategic due diligence
Commercial and strategic due diligence is a core activity for Cairneagle, and we have worked with many of the leading private equity firms and lending banks. Through a process of extensive primary research, Cairneagle provides detailed market and financial projections for acquisition targets or divestments in the context of expected market developments and competitive positioning. We quantify the key upside and downside risks and provide independent valuations of businesses – as well as providing advice on the strategic value of the acquisition.

Acquisition screening
Following the definition of a client’s investment strategy, Cairneagle is often engaged to find suitable acquisition targets. We follow a comprehensive and rigorous process to identify and filter suitable candidates and carry out high level due diligence on the shortlisted companies. Following review with the client, we also manage the negotiation, valuation and transaction process.

Selling Businesses
Cairneagle has acted for a number of companies who are looking to be sold. We work alongside you throughout the entire process to help you get the most value from the sale, preparing all the support documentation and searching for and negotiating with the most appropriate potential acquirers, both corporate and financial, and from the UK and abroad. We also help you appoint other advisors and ensure a cost effective and timely process.

Fundraising
Cairneagle works with businesses of all sizes to help raise equity and debt. As part of our venturing practice, we work with early stage businesses to secure early stage equity funding, grants and loans, and we manage private placement transactions focused on the UK and US. We have strong sectoral expertise in Financial Services, Carbon & Cleantech and TMT.