01
M&A strategy
Where you're going and what to buy to get there. An acquisition thesis, screening criteria and a market map the board can argue with — agreed before anyone looks at a single target.
Interim Head of M&A · Corporate Development
Corporate development and M&A capability, without the full-time hire.
Advanta works inside your business as the corporate development function you don't yet need to employ: we build the acquisition strategy, find the right targets and work the outreach until the pipeline is real. And when you're selling, we get you ready and run the process. All of it by someone who has done it before.
Commercial advisory. We give you an initial view of value, built to be worked with — by your board, your bankers and your advisers.
The shift
Go from reactive to proactive.
Most companies meet M&A the week it happens to them. The alternative is having the capability in place before it does — so you choose the targets and the timing, not the other way round.
Reactive
- Deals arrive as someone else's timing — a banker's call, an unsolicited approach — and you decide under pressure or not at all.
- There's no acquisition thesis, so every opportunity is judged on its own and nothing compounds.
- Target lists start from scratch each time, so the same market gets re-learned deal after deal.
- Deal capability arrives the day it's needed and leaves soon after.
Proactive
- An acquisition thesis you own: where you're going and what to buy to get there.
- A target universe built from the market up, screened against your criteria and kept current.
- Outreach runs on a cadence — first contact, qualification, first meetings — so you're talking to targets before they're auctions.
- Criteria, templates and a pipeline stay behind when the mandate ends.
What we do
Buy side, we find the deals.
An acquisition thesis, a target universe built from the market up, and outreach worked until the right target says yes — with someone accountable for the pipeline the whole way.
M&A strategy
An acquisition thesis and screening criteria you can actually apply — before anyone looks at a single target.
Deal origination
Build the target universe from the market up, not from a banker's inbox, then work it with direct outreach you'd be happy to have your name on.
Pipeline discipline
A tracked, prioritised list with owners and next steps — not a folder of PDFs and a hope.
Process management
NDAs, indications, management calls and diligence coordination, working alongside your finance, legal and advisory teams.
Services
From initial thesis to full corporate development capability.
A thesis, a target universe and the outreach that turns it into conversations — with the valuation and the in-house capability around it.
02
Target sourcing & screening
Finding the right target. We build the universe from the market up — not from an intermediary's inbox — and screen it against your criteria until the list is names worth calling.
03
Deal origination & outreach
We work the list with direct outreach you'd be happy to put your name on: first contact, qualification, first meetings, and a pipeline your board can actually see.
04
Initial valuation
An indicative range and the drivers behind it — what the business is worth, and what's holding the number back. A commercial view to run a decision on.
05
Corporate development function
Criteria, templates, cadence and governance for in-house deal capability — then handed to your team when you want it in-house.
Intelligence & tooling
Experienced corporate development, combined with the best AI intelligence platforms — and we pick the right one for you.
The work is done by people who have run corporate development, on leading AI intelligence platforms: market mapping, target screening, deal signals and diligence. We choose the one that fits your market and your budget, set it up around your criteria, and leave it with you. You get the capability, not just the output.
Selected, not sold
We use these platforms on live mandates, so we can tell you which one actually fits your market — and which ones aren't worth your money.
Built around your criteria
Screening criteria, target universes and watchlists configured into the platform, so it keeps working between our calls.
Yours to keep
At the end of a mandate the accounts, searches and workflows transfer to your team. The capability stays rather than leaving with us.
Approach
Readiness before outreach. Outreach before hope.
The sequence matters more than the effort. Most processes fail because they started at step three.
- 01First two weeks
Diagnose
We read the business, the file and the numbers with you, and agree the honest answer to one question: what would diligence find?
- 02Weeks 2–6
Map
The acquisition thesis, the screening criteria and the target universe, screened and prioritised.
- 03Ongoing
Originate
The universe is built and worked. Outreach, qualification, first meetings — a running pipeline you can see, not a status report.
- 04Through to close
Run and hand over
We manage the process with your advisers, then leave the criteria, templates and cadence with your team if you want it in-house.
Who we work with
Private equity and companies looking to build M&A capability.
People who want deal experience on tap, and would rather rent it than build a permanent function.
PE sponsors & portfolio companies
A hold period that needs deal capability across several businesses at once, and a pipeline that keeps moving.
- Buy-side sourcing
- Pipeline coverage
- Interim coverage
Owner-led businesses
Growth through acquisition, with someone who has run the process before and can be straight with you about where to look.
- M&A strategy
- Target sourcing
- Deal management
Companies that need the capability, not the headcount
You'd like a Head of M&A. You don't need a full-time one yet. We hold the seat and the pipeline while you decide.
- M&A strategy
- Target sourcing
- Function build
Engagement
Three ways in.
All start with a conversation and a short diagnostic. No fee is quoted before we know what the work is.
Interim Head of M&A
Two to three days a week, embedded with your team and reporting to you. Your name on the outreach, your brand on the process.
Project mandate
A defined piece of work: a target universe, an acquisition thesis, or a single transaction run end to end.
Retained origination
Ongoing buy-side sourcing and pipeline management for sponsors and platforms that are always looking at something.
Contact
Tell us what you're trying to do.
A pipeline you want filled or an acquisition you're scoping. Two weeks to get moving, and a straight answer about whether we're the right people for it.
hello@advanta.comor reply to an introduction
- First call
- 30 minutes, no charge
- Response
- Within one business day
- Typical start
- Two weeks from agreement
- Focus
- Buy side and origination