Buy-side M&A advisory · UK · US · UAE
The deal team behind your next acquisition.
5DCP is a fractional buy-side M&A team for owner-led groups, search funds, family offices, private equity and private investors. We originate off-market, get owners on the phone, negotiate, structure, coordinate diligence and finance, and carry the deal through to completion.
The case for buying
Nobody gets a second twenty years.
Growing to £20M organically is a two-decade plan, and only if nothing goes wrong. Buying your way there is a two-to-three year one. The destination is the same. What differs is how much of your life it costs to get there.
Build vs buy
Starting one is the slow way to own one.
A start-up begins at zero: no revenue, no customers, no team, and years before it pays anyone. An acquisition begins at profit. You are not buying an idea. You are buying a business that already works, with the people, the contracts and the cash flow attached.
The maths is not the hard part. Finding the right business, getting the owner to the table and structuring it so the downside is covered is the hard part. That is the job we do.
The constraint
Most acquisitions stall for the same reason.
Capital is rarely the binding constraint. Attention is. A principal has finite focus, and how the acquisition programme is resourced decides whether the business compounds or drifts.
Full focus on running the business.
Nothing competes for the principal's attention, and the operating machine runs well.
Focus split between operations and dealmaking.
Sourcing, outreach and diligence are a full-time job. Something gives, and it is usually the operating business.
You run the business. We run the acquisitions.
A full buy-side function from day one, without the hiring, the ramp or the fixed overhead.
What we do
The full process, not just the front end.
Deals leak value when nobody owns the whole transaction. One team owns it, from the first approach to funds in the account.
Originate
Off-market sourcing and direct outreach to owners, to your acquisition profile, before anyone else is talking to them. Deals that never reach a broker.
Qualify
Every target screened against your criteria before it reaches your desk. You see the opportunities worth your time, and not the rest.
Negotiate
Getting sellers on the phone and keeping them there. Heads of terms that hold, on terms that work without killing the deal.
Value & structure
A supportable price, and a structure that protects the downside. Including creative structures for when the obvious one does not work.
Diligence & finance
Commercial and financial diligence run end to end, with the funding route worked alongside the deal rather than after it.
Close & beyond
Held together through to completion, plus post-acquisition and integration support when you want it.
Legal diligence and documentation sit with specialist solicitors, yours or ones we recommend, coordinated by us and billed separately. The goal is never an introduction and a handshake. It is a completed transaction, and hundreds of thousands or millions added to your group's EBITDA.
Track record
Results, and the pedigree behind them.
Institutional discipline applied to deals at mid-market scale: Big Four trained diligence, private equity scale acquisition experience, specialist counsel.
Who we work with
Built for serious acquirers.
Whether you are a group with an operating business to protect, a searcher with capital and no deal flow, or an investor who wants a team on the ground, the mandate is the same. Find the right business, and get it bought properly.
Business owners & groups
Built to £5–10M+ turnover and ready to grow by acquisition instead of grinding out another decade organically. You run the business. We run the deal.
- Owner-led
- Buy & build
- Roll-ups
Search funds & ETA
Searchers and ETA operators with capital to deploy and not enough quality deal flow. We become your origination engine, and stay on through negotiation and close.
- Self-funded
- Traditional search
- First acquisition
Investors, family offices & PE
High-net-worth investors, family offices and private equity who want a trusted team on the ground to originate and execute on their behalf, in the UK, US and UAE.
- HNW & UHNW
- Family office
- Private equity
The team
The people running your deal.
Most advisors have never signed the front of a cheque. We have bought, built and sold businesses with our own capital, and we bring that operator's judgement to every deal we run for a client.
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Off-market sourcing specialist. App and Amazon exits of his own, and six acquisitions completed with his own capital.
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Advisor on 200+ M&A deals, buy-side and sell-side, and has sat on both sides of the table. Has helped 900+ people buy their first business.
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Scaled a pharma and life sciences business to $2bn revenue by acquisition. A buy-and-build run at institutional scale, through the diligence, structuring and integration discipline that credit committees and lenders expect. That standard is what Craig brings to deals at mid-market size, where it is rarely applied and makes the most difference.
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Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA) with 10+ years in M&A, transaction services and corporate development across FTSE and AIM-listed corporates, private equity and Big Four advisory. Her transaction experience spans multi-billion pound public takeovers, IPO vendor due diligence and sell-side disposals, across engineering, industrials, energy, civil nuclear and business services. Alongside 5DCP she works in corporate development for a listed group, running cross-border acquisitions end to end.
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Buy-and-build dealmaker across the UK, US, UAE and Europe. Helps owners buy well, integrate cleanly and exit at a premium.
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20+ years at Director level across financial services, regulated environments and the UAE. Keeps the process moving and the parties accountable.
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Managing Partner of Maki Investments. 20+ years operating and investing, including mid-market healthcare private equity.
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CPA, Big Four trained in transaction diligence. Eight years in buy-side and sell-side diligence, financial modelling and quality of earnings.
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Co-founder of Birdi Group. Corporate and commercial law across acquisitions, from heads of terms through to share purchase agreement.
Supported by a 46-strong team across the UK, US and UAE, so a deal never waits on a time zone.
In their words
Clients who bought, and what happened next.
In-house vs fractional
Cheaper than building it in-house.
A capable internal M&A function is expensive and slow to stand up. A fractional team is live from day one.
How it starts
Start small. Judge us on deals.
Every engagement begins with a bounded, fixed-fee first stage, so you see how we work on real numbers and real opportunities before you commit to a longer mandate.
Discovery
A short, confidential call on what you want to buy: criteria, capital, timeline. A tailored proposal follows within days.
First mandate
A paid, fixed-fee opening stage: a defined sourcing mandate, or a scoped diligence and valuation exercise. Scope and cost agreed before we start, and everything we produce is yours to keep.
Then, your call
Continue on a monthly retainer plus success fee for as long as it is working, or walk away. Minimum three-month engagement, and no lock-in beyond it.
Why it matters
Generational wealth is built by owning, not earning.
Nobody buys a business because they enjoy due diligence. They do it because of what an owned, cash-generating asset makes possible, and because the organic route gets there far too slowly to matter.
Money that is not your time.
A group with management underneath it pays you whether or not you are in the building. That is the difference between a high salary and actual wealth, and it is the first thing acquisition buys you back.
Something a buyer actually wants.
A £2M owner-operated business is a job with your name on it. A £20M group with a management team, clean accounts and diversified revenue is an asset with a market. Scale is what makes an exit possible at all, and acquisition is the fastest honest route to it.
Something that outlives you.
Handed to your children, or sold and turned into capital that is. Either way it stays a decision you get to make, rather than one made for you when the energy runs out and there is nothing left to sell.
Next step
Let's find your next acquisition.
Twenty years is a long time to spend finding out you were on the slow path. Get in touch and we will tell you, straight, whether there is a deal worth chasing in your market. A short, confidential call costs nothing and usually saves a great deal.