TrueValue M&A Network
Deal sourcing professionals
Most good businesses are never advertised for sale. Deal sourcing professionals find them: they identify owners who might sell, make the approach, and bring a buyer a conversation that no competing buyer is having.
Deal sourcing professionals
Verified and featured professionals are listed first. Refine by location, sector or deal size.
What deal sourcing professionals do
An origination specialist builds a target list against a buyer’s criteria, researches each company and its owners, makes the approach — by letter, by phone, through networks — and qualifies interest before introducing the buyer. Some work on retainer for a single buyer; others originate opportunities and offer them to a buyer list. The value is access: an off-market conversation with a willing seller, ahead of a process.
The quality of a sourcing professional shows in the ratio of approaches to real conversations, and in how well they represent the buyer to an owner who did not ask to be contacted.
When to engage them
When a buyer has clear criteria, funding in place and the capacity to move on an opportunity when it arrives. Sourcing without those three wastes the professional’s approaches and the buyer’s reputation in the market.
Usually active at
- Sourcing
- Evaluating a specific business
What they typically help with
- Building and researching a target list against a mandate
- Owner research and the approach
- Qualifying interest before introduction
- Managing a pipeline of off-market conversations
- Representing a buyer credibly to owners
Questions to ask before you engage
- 1. How do you find and research targets, and what does a typical approach look like?
- 2. What is your ratio of approaches to introductions to completed deals?
- 3. How are you paid — retainer, per introduction, success fee — and do you work for other buyers in my sector?
- 4. How do you handle an owner who says no, and how do you protect my name?
- 5. Can I see anonymised examples of the businesses you have introduced?
How deal sourcing professionals are paid
Retainers for a dedicated search, fees per qualified introduction, success fees on completion, or a combination. Exclusivity in a sector, and what happens to opportunities the professional sources but the buyer declines, are worth agreeing at the start.
How TrueValue fits alongside
TrueValue does the register half of this itself: target discovery screens Companies House against the buyer’s acquisition mandate, enriches each company from its filed accounts, watches it for changes and, with the mail-merge export, prepares the approach. See deal sourcing software for where a tool ends and a sourcing professional begins.
Frequently asked
What is off-market deal sourcing?
- Finding and approaching businesses that are not advertised for sale. Most owners have not decided to sell until someone credible asks, and a buyer who asks first negotiates without competition.
Can I do my own sourcing?
- Yes, and TrueValue is built for it. A sourcing professional adds capacity, research depth and, often, relationships in a sector. Many buyers do both.
Is deal sourcing regulated?
- Introducing a buyer to a business is not generally regulated, but the rules on unsolicited marketing apply to the approach itself. TrueValue’s own approach tools enforce them; ask a sourcing professional how they comply.
Listings in the TrueValue M&A Network are provided for information. A listing is not an endorsement or a recommendation, and TrueValue does not guarantee any professional’s performance. You must carry out your own due diligence before engaging anyone, verify regulated status independently with the relevant regulator, and seek qualified legal, financial and tax advice where appropriate.