Partner Article

‘Online Dating’ For Business Buyers and Sellers

Eighty-five per cent of the Businesses for Sale market on dealconnections.co.uk

An estimated 10,000 UK individuals now looking to buy into businesses.

An online service that brings together business buyers and sellers, and provides the most comprehensive view of businesses for sale ever offered from one online source, has gone live.

Deal Connections (www.dealconnections.co.uk) will provide information and daily alerts on established companies coming to the market for sale valued from £750,000 to £30 million in the UK and abroad. It promises information on more than 50 deals a week and visibility of 85 per cent of all businesses for sale at this level in the UK.

Deal Connections sources information, on an hour-by-hour basis, from accountants, business brokers, advisors, other consolidators and its own research. There are more than 6,400 opportunities currently live.

Deal Connections has been founded by entrepreneur James Waterhouse, who has a 25-year track record in corporate deals and investments, ranging from SME acquisitions to multi-million pound listed company takeovers.

James Waterhouse says: “MBIs are usually carried out by people with a proven track record, trying to find the perfect match between target company, their own skills and their funders interests. Until now they’ve found it impossible to get a real overview of the market. To gain visibility on the 85 per cent plus of the market that Deal Connections offers, you would have to maintain relationships with 650 entities and 15,000 people.

“If you are looking to acquire or sell a company, buy into an existing business as a management team, or just looking for investment opportunities, there has been no single place you could go to see almost the entire UK market.”

The service is being launched with a free 7-day trial and tiered monthly subscription rates starting at just £25, which includes a weekly ‘latest deals’ email customised to the individual’s business search criteria. It is expected to appeal to the extensive Management Buy‑In (MBI) market, where a growing economy and desire to take charge of their own destiny means an estimated 10,000 individuals are looking to buy in to businesses.

Waterhouse sees Deal Connections as a potential one-stop-shop for the MBI candidate by providing subscribers with bespoke introductions to funders, accountants and lawyers with experience of the corporate finance market.

“A typical MBI deal takes 18-24 months to identify and transact and there’s quite a high attrition rate so anything we can do to speed up that process is of great value to both buyer and seller.

“As the economy recovers, all the indicators are showing business deals returning to pre-credit crunch levels and we are seeing potential buyers who have been biding their time starting to look seriously at business acquisition,” he says.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Thompson .