Selling a Business in London
London is Europe's most active mid-market M&A centre. That is an advantage — the depth of buyer interest is genuinely exceptional — but it also means competing for attention in a market where sophisticated buyers see hundreds of opportunities a year. Running the right process matters more here than almost anywhere else.
The London mid-market M&A landscape in 2026
London's mid-market — broadly businesses with enterprise values between £10M and £500M — is one of the most liquid M&A markets in the world. The concentration of institutional capital, PE fund managers, and strategic acquirers within a few square miles of the City creates a buyer universe that simply does not exist in most other markets.
Activity in 2025-2026 has been characterised by strong PE interest in businesses with resilient earnings and pricing power, continued US strategic appetite for UK technology and professional services businesses, and growing family office participation in the lower mid-market where institutional PE is less active.
The businesses achieving premium outcomes share common characteristics: strong recurring revenue, defensible market positions, management teams that can operate independently of founders, and clean financial histories that withstand institutional due diligence. Businesses that lack these characteristics can still transact — but the process requires more careful buyer selection and positioning.
For businesses above £10M EBITDA, a competitive process with full market coverage will consistently outperform a bilateral negotiation or a limited process. Below that threshold, a more targeted approach — identifying the specific buyers most likely to assign the highest strategic value — often produces better outcomes than broad distribution.
Key sectors driving London M&A
London's economy is concentrated in a handful of sectors that also happen to be the most active in M&A. Here is what buyer appetite looks like across each.
Financial Services & Fintech
London remains Europe's leading financial centre. Fintech, payments, wealthtech, and regulated financial services businesses attract strong buyer interest from both strategic acquirers and PE funds. FCA regulation is a consideration in every financial services transaction — buyers price compliance costs and licence value into their models.
Technology & Software
London's tech cluster — concentrated in Shoreditch, Clerkenwell, and increasingly across the city — produces some of the UK's most active M&A targets. SaaS businesses with recurring revenue and international customer bases command the strongest multiples. US strategic acquirers are particularly active acquirers of London tech businesses.
Professional Services
Consulting, legal services, accountancy, and advisory businesses represent a significant portion of London mid-market M&A. Key considerations: revenue concentration in key people, client portability, and post-close retention of fee earners. PE-backed roll-up strategies are driving strong activity in fragmented professional services verticals.
Healthcare & Life Sciences
Healthcare services, pharma services, and life sciences businesses attract both strategic and financial buyers. NHS contract dependency, CQC registration, and clinical workforce considerations all affect deal structure. London's cluster of life sciences businesses around the Knowledge Quarter generates consistent deal flow.
Media & Creative
Digital media, advertising technology, content production, and creative agencies are an active corner of London M&A. Owner-dependency and talent retention are the primary buyer concerns. Earnout structures are common in this sector as a mechanism to bridge value expectations and manage key-person risk.
Real Estate & Property
London property businesses — from estate agencies to PropTech platforms to property management firms — see consistent buyer interest. Structural shifts post-COVID in office and residential demand continue to create transaction opportunities as operators restructure or exit.
UK-specific considerations when selling your business
Selling a UK business involves regulatory, tax, and legal considerations that are specific to the jurisdiction. These are not obstacles — but they need to be understood and planned for before you start a process.
Business Asset Disposal Relief
Formerly Entrepreneurs' Relief, BADR provides a reduced 14% CGT rate on qualifying gains up to a £1M lifetime limit. For business owners with gains above this threshold — which is most mid-market transactions — standard CGT rates apply. Structuring the transaction correctly ahead of a sale can materially affect your net proceeds. This is worth discussing with a specialist tax adviser before you start a process.
FCA Considerations
If your business holds FCA authorisation or falls within the regulatory perimeter, a change of control requires FCA approval. This adds timeline — typically 3-6 months for standard applications — and requires buyers to submit a change of control notice. It is not a barrier to a transaction, but it needs to be factored into process design from the outset.
Employment Law & TUPE
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations apply to most business sales where employees are acquired as part of the transaction. Buyers will conduct thorough employment due diligence, and any legacy employment disputes, contractor misclassification issues, or pension liabilities will be priced into the deal or addressed through contractual protections.
Sterling Denomination
Most UK mid-market transactions are denominated in GBP. Where buyers are US or European, exchange rate assumptions affect their return models. In cross-border transactions, currency mechanisms in the purchase agreement — including locked-box vs. completion accounts approaches — need careful attention.
What London buyers are looking for right now
The London buyer market in 2026 is disciplined. Post-rate-cycle adjustments have made buyers more rigorous on diligence and more selective on entry points. Businesses that can demonstrate earnings resilience, pricing power, and revenue predictability are finding strong buyer interest. Those that cannot are seeing wider bid spreads and more conditional offers.
Earnings quality over top-line growth
Buyers are paying closer attention to normalised EBITDA, add-back scrutiny, and cash conversion than they were in the 2021-2022 period. Clean, audited financials with limited add-backs give buyers confidence and reduce deal risk.
International revenue streams
For UK businesses, revenue diversification beyond the domestic market — particularly into the US or Europe — is viewed as a significant positive. It reduces concentration risk and opens the buyer universe to international strategics.
Founder transition planning
Buyers want to see a business that can operate without the founder. Whether that means a strong management team, documented processes, or a planned transition period, demonstrating continuity is critical to achieving a clean, well-priced exit.
Defensible market position
What stops a well-funded competitor from replicating your business in 18 months? The best answers — proprietary technology, regulatory barriers, brand loyalty, network effects, long-term contracts — command premium multiples. Generic market positions do not.
Also in the UK
We advise businesses across the United Kingdom
Considering selling your London business?
We offer an initial confidential consultation at no charge and without obligation. We will give you an honest assessment of what your business is likely worth in the current market, what a sale process would look like, and whether the timing is right. If it is not the right time, we will tell you that too.