Finding the 'right' business broker to sell a business is almost impossible*

*Unless you talk to us

As below, there are over 100 brokers in the UK just under the letter "C"!

Which of the 1000+ brokers can find you the right buyer, in the right time frame & get the best price?

It's not just business brokers who sell businesses. Some of these 'brokers' call themselves transfer agents, M&A companies, exit advisories and many, other names If you include them all, the choice is simply mind boggling.

There are over 20 business brokers in the UK who handle the sale of just accountancy practices, they sell no other type of business. Over 30 brokers specialise in the sale of service businesses and 12 specialise in the sale of just "facilities management" businesses.

See our list below of some of the 100+ UK brokers just under the letter "C".

Many considerations go into finding the right broker for a particular business, based on the circumstances in that individal case, yet shareholders have no access to much of the data needed to reach an informed decision (which is why we provide the matching service that we do).

Why does having a sector specialist matter?

Using a specialist in the sector could mean a lot more money when selling a business. A sector specialist is often in a better position to source strategic buyers (strategic buyers are the type who pay more than 'financial buyers').

There are hundreds of generalist or "sector agnostic" brokers who are better suited to some businesses (beauty salons, cafes etc) because of their local knowledge.

Other brokers have cross border expertise and can find that Silicon Valley investor if, for example, their client is a tech business. Some brokers are NOMADs (Nominated Advisers) whose assistance will be needed to take a business public and others are expert at putting together MBOs (management buy outs) or EOT (Employee Ownership Trusts) and/or other specific exits best suited to the owners' requirements.

Whatever the business, it will benefit from having a broker with the right skills, the right attributes, the right competencies to advise and assist in that particular case.

It takes a fair degree of skill to help achieve the owners' particular exit goals (whether partial sale, full sale, sale of assets, sale of shares, cash sale, sale on deferred payment terms, MBO, MBI, EOT, IPO, a "bolt-on" sale to a strategic buyer, getting private equity involvement, selling a distressed business ...the list is endless).

But there is no list anywhere (!) of the brokers who specialise in individual sectors. We're the only ones who have that data, so it's difficult for business owners to do the necessary research themselves.

Further complications

Most of the best firms that handle the sale of businesses -  the M&A advisory firms, the boutique investment banks, the corporate finance firms etc - don't advertise, so they are difficult to find. (These firms sell larger business and that's a different game so read and our Comprehensive Guide To Selling Larger Businesses is here.)

It's not surprising therefore that many business owners end up with the likes of Knightsbridge Business Sales (KBS), Intelligent Business Transfer, Turner Butler, RTA, BCMS, National Business Sales ...or pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap generalists.

These are the brokers who are easy to find (or they find you through cold calls etc)

The best 200 firms don't appear anywhere in Google search for terms like business broker. Not even on page 200! That's because they call themselves by all kinds of other names and will never refer to themselves as brokers (and may even get offended if you call them that!)

They can't be found in Google ...and they certainly don't cold call potential clients.

When shareholder do find some of the top firms, many won't take the business on because it's in the wrong geographical location, isn't big enough for them, is in the 'wrong' sector etc etc.

Many (not all) won't even speak directly with the owners as the business needs to be referred by, say, the accountants, or by us.

But businesses that sign up with one of these top firms have a far higher chance of selling, and selling for top whack.

The success rate for 'run of the mill' brokers is less than 20% and the large majority of the clients they take on do not succeed in selling. It's a scary but true statistic and for some brokers the success rate is less than 5%!

With the top intermediaries, the ratio is reversed. They tend to sell over 80% of the businesses they take on. Some sell 100%.

We share some data below

We have masses of intelligence on who does what in this industry - their fees and fee structures, their sector specialisation, their geographical coverage, their reviews and feedback etc.

We also track the size a business needs to be for them to take it on, their cross border expertise, the languages they speak, the industry awards they've won, whether they are FCA regulated, whether they have in-house valuation / tax / legal expertise ...and much, much more.

Below are some extracts from our database to give readers an idea of just how vast the market is, just how many brokers there are out there, and the range of services and expertise they have on offer.

We share below the brokers we've got listed in our database under the letter "C" and there are over 100 under this one letter.

About the data below

Some of the firms listed here are sector specialists, like Careport (who sell just care homes), Cooper & Tanner (agricultural), CDG (leisure) and Corporate Mergers Ltd (food).

There are several corporate finance (CF) firms who are sector agnostic. CF firms tend to put in a lot more effort into the process of selling a business - hundreds of hours - but then they charge a lot more, too. Note that CF firms tend to not take on smaller businesses.

They operate in what's called the lower mid-market space ie. businesses which have an EV (Enterprise Value) of between £5m and £50m. Many won't handle a sale unless they feel the business is worth at least £5m (though a few might go down to an EV of £2m).

But they'll typically get a far, far better multiple than any BTA (Business Transfer Agent) could achieve.

That brings us to the BTAs - they typically handle the sale of smaller businesses such as high street shops, hair dressing salons, cafes and the like. They tend to have the local knowledge required to sell such businesses and BTAs in the extract below include Chris Hart and Cornerstone (both covering Scotland), Cherry & Cherry (SW), County (SE but now deceased in 2020) etc. 

All these just under "C". Further, there are new ones cropping up all the time. And existing firms going bust! (In the last few years, County Business Sales, Capital, Charlton Blake, CGA Day Nurseries, Chartswood and numerous other have closed shop)

Without further ado, here's the list but bear in mind that a firm appearing in this list is not to be read as a "recommendation" of that firm. In fact, there are some here we've often advised our clients to avoid.

Some extracts from our database

Terms in italics, and sector abbreviation codes, are explained in the Glossary below. Red text suggests a company that, in our opinion, is in possible trouble and that has closed or may close in the near future. Green text is newer firms without established history.

And those are just the ones under "Ca"!

Here are a few more under "C": 

And numerous firms that for one reason or another have closed shop and are no longer operational, including:

Covey Corporate Finance Ltd
Chancery Corporate Finance Ltd
City Corporate Finance Ltd
Compass
Charterhouse
CFL Corporate Finance Plc
CVM Corporate Finance Ltd
Corporate Finance Montaigne Ltd
Clarity Corporate Finance LLP
Challace Corporate Finance Ltd
Cardomon Corporate Finance Ltd
Cimbrone Corporate Finance Ltd
Cathkin Corporate Finance Ltd
Clavis Corporate Finance Ltd
County Corporate Finance Ltd
Coven (Corporate Finance) Ltd
CPL Corporate Finance Ltd
Coutts Corporate Finance Ltd
CIBC Corporate Finance Ltd
Caspian Corporate Finance Ltd
Chartwell Corporate Finance Ltd
Crown Corporate Finance Ltd
Causeway Corporate Finance Ltd
CSM Corporate Finance Ltd
Claymore Corporate Finance Ltd
Cartier Corporate Finance Ltd
Camelus Corporate Finance Ltd
Clayton Corporate Finance Ltd
Clerkenwell Corporate Finance Ltd
Christows Corporate Finance Ltd
Closa Corporate Finance Advisors Ltd
Capital Bank Corporate Finance Plc
Capital Strategies Corporate Finance Ltd
C-quential Corporate Finance Ltd
Cabot Wharf Corporate Finance Ltd
Casson Beckman Corporate Finance Ltd
Caulfield Cavells Corporate Finance Ltd
Capital Partners Corporate Finance Ltd
Credit 1 Corporate Finance Ltd
CCF Laurence Prust Corporate Finance Ltd
and others.

Glossary

BTA - Business Transfer Agent (these usually deal in High St shops, hair salons, cafes, etc)
CFF: Corporate Finance Firm (brokers run by qualified accountants / CF experts)
EBITDA - Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation
EMEA - Europe, Middle East, Africa
EV - Enterprise Value (the figure the broker thinks you're worth)
IB - Investment Bank
IPO - Initial Public Offering
M&A - Mergers & Acquisitions (or sale of your business to a "trade buyer")
MBI - Management Buy In
MBO - Management Buy Out
Mid Market - Businesses with turnover of circa £5m to £200m
Nomad: Nominated Advisors (authorised to advise on IPOs)
RE - Real Estate
Sector Agnostic - A broker who handles business in any sector / industry
SME - Small & Medium Enterprises (businesses with £5m - £50m in turnover)
sSME - Small SMEs, more accurately called micro businesses (under £5m in turnover)

Sector Codes

We can help!

Does your business have a turnover of at least £5m or EBITDA of £500K? We can advise and help to find you the right firm to assist in your salebroker. You can also save tens of thousands of pounds in broker fees. Get in touch to enquire about our service.

This article was updated in October 2024.