M&A advisory The number of bidders sets the price.

An M&A advisory firm is engaged by one side of a transaction. The advisor scopes the engagement, sets the valuation range and positioning, identifies and approaches the counterparty, manages due diligence and the timetable, and prepares the client and its counsel for the negotiation through to signing. spectup represents one side only and is paid by that side.

Different jobs. A consultant advises on strategy, readiness and valuation, and the work ends with a recommendation. An advisor leads the engagement, approaches the counterparty, runs the timetable through to signing. spectup does the second.

The same problem inverted. On the buy side, the target is usually not for sale, so the job is being the only party at the table. On the sell side, one bidder sets the price alone, so the job is making sure there are others. Same desk, opposite work: buy-side and sell-side.

M&A advisory fees are two figures. A monthly retainer covers process management, materials and counterparty outreach, plus a Transaction Fee as a percentage of transaction value, due when the transaction closes. spectup charges both on every transaction. The fee is capped.

Almost entirely at closing. The retainer covers the desk while the process runs; the Transaction Fee falls due only once the transaction closes.

Six to twelve months from scope to signing. We build valuation and materials in the first weeks and start the approach once you have signed off the list.

No. You and your own counsel negotiate with the counterparty, on price and documents alike. We set the range and positioning with you beforehand, brief you on what the other side will push on, and run the process to signing.

No. We run the transaction to signing and hand over cleanly.

Three tests, and they are the same tests whichever side you are on. Can they do it comes from our own investor and acquirer data: what each acquirer has bought, at what size, and how an ownership is held. Are they ready comes from an in-house signal engine watching 80+ triggers continuously. Will they answer comes from how we approach: a universe built for each transaction, with every name on it approached directly from the spectup desk that runs the transaction to signing. Other advisors license a database and answer one of the three.

spectup’s U.S.-related activity runs under SEC Rule 15a-6, through a chaperoning arrangement with a U.S. registered broker-dealer that is a FINRA and SIPC member.

Our international team covers North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, including cross-border transactions with multi-jurisdictional requirements.

Before the first conversation with a counterparty. Once a name has been approached badly, or a business shown around and passed on, that is hard to undo: the trade and private equity buyers who wanted it have already formed a view. If you are choosing between firms, our comparison of 13 M&A advisory firms sets them side by side on how each builds the acquirer list, live timing and deals in figures.

Low and mid-market, with no fixed upper limit on size. The transactions on this page are examples: EUR 10 to 25M, $25 to 50M, and a buy-side transaction at roughly $12M.

Yes. A bank or advisory firm can engage us for one client’s deal, to find the targets or the buyers, or for an ongoing flow of screened companies whose owners are open to a sale. We run both as deal origination, on a monthly retainer plus a Transaction Fee.