Module · Layer 3 · M&A Scan
Your target list is generic — adjacent verticals and bolt-on archetypes that fit YOUR thesis aren't on it.
M&A Scan replaces the static banker-deck with a structured per-thesis delivery: a ranked target list — up to 200 candidates, scored against your Strategic Baseline — that hands the highest- fit candidates straight into Commercial Due Diligence.
Outcome · Ranked target list, scored against your thesis
Generic banker deck → thesis-specific ranked candidates.
- Up to 200 candidates / scan
- First-pass-fit candidates surfaced from an external reference dataset of private companies, scored against your Strategic Baseline.
- Days, not weeks
- Structured scan delivered in days — what a banker-led exercise delivers in weeks. Same evidence depth, faster turnaround.
- Ranked target list
- One delivery: every candidate carries a strategic-fit score, EBITDA-uplift band, and one-line rationale tied to your lead angle.
Ranges illustrative — your audit returns the ranked target list specific to your angle stack.
What moves the number
Structured scan, scored against your baseline.
Cross-industry scan against your thesis
External reference dataset of private companies enriched with ownership signals, succession events, valuation prints, and capability-gap inference. Adjacent verticals, bolt-on archetypes, and capability tuck-ins your Strategic Baseline flags as priority surface here first.
Strategic-fit scoring against your baseline
Each candidate carries a commercial-fit score against the angle stack M&A Strategy locked, an estimated EBITDA-uplift band, and a one-line rationale tied to your lead angle. Confidence-flagged where the inference is thinner.
Hand-off to Commercial Due Diligence
When deal-flow signals converge — strategic fit confirmed, owner-readiness signal, valuation envelope plausible — the candidate is ready for Commercial Due Diligence. The scan output is already populated when CDD picks it up; CDD extends rather than restarts.
Ranked target list per delivery
Each scan delivers ONE ranked target list — up to 200 candidates against your baseline. The list is the artefact; activate again when your thesis shifts or you want a fresh universe.
Methodology · Ranked target list
Continuous scan, signal-driven promotion.
- What reference dataset does the scan run against?
- An external private-company reference dataset — enriched with ownership, succession, valuation, and capability signals. The scan is the inference layer that runs your target-criteria framework against this universe; the universe itself is bought-in commodity data.
- How is strategic fit scored?
- Three components compose the score: angle-match (does the candidate fit the lead angle M&A Strategy locked), capability-gap-match (does it close a baseline-flagged gap), and integration-readiness (can it be absorbed without disrupting the core). Each component carries a confidence band; the composite reflects the weakest link.
- When does a candidate get promoted to Commercial Diligence?
- Two-of-three trigger: strategic-fit score above threshold, owner-readiness signal present (succession event, age band, prior partial transaction), valuation envelope plausible against comparable deals. All three triggers prioritisation; two triggers promotion.
See it for yours.
5 minutes. €0. The free audit returns the angle stack your scan should look for, the target-criteria framework that filters the scan, and a first-pass ranked target list against your baseline.