Roll-up Platforms · Strategic Acquirers · Search Funds · Brokers

Off-market deal sourcing for UK acquisitions

We score every active UK company on exit readiness, so you can reach owners before a sale process starts. Our model rated 6 in 10 eventual sellers as likely to sell, before they sold.

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McKinsey estimates $5 trillion in US business value is at risk from failed ownership transitions. We mapped the equivalent problem across 3.7 million UK companies. Read the analysis.

The UK Off-Market Deal Sourcing Problem

  • 20 months average search duration.
  • 37% of funded searches never acquire.
  • £15,000+ per month of searching (Stanford GSB 2024).

What ExitRadar Filters It To

  • 852,756 UK companies with an average director age of 60+.
  • 173,807 owner-run businesses with a single director aged 60+ and no internal successor.
  • 34,301 scoring 70+ for exit readiness.

Built on Companies House data. See the full exit statistics.

Browse by Sector

Scored and ranked target lists, updated from live filings.

  • Manufacturing: 145,419 companies, 2,266 rated PURSUE. Defensible niches, long customer relationships.
  • Construction & Trades: 395,405 companies, 3,323 rated PURSUE. Essential, fragmented, owner-dependent.
  • Healthcare: 194,240 companies, 2,008 rated PURSUE. Ageing population, recurring patients, regulated.
  • Professional Services: 539,082 companies, 2,287 rated PURSUE. Consulting, legal, accounting, engineering.
  • Facility & Field Services: 81,449 companies, 914 rated PURSUE. Route-based, contracted, recurring services.
  • IT & Tech Services: 138,575 companies, 446 rated PURSUE. MSPs, IT consultancies, managed services.
  • Technology: 88,463 companies, 508 rated PURSUE. Software, cloud, and telecoms products.
  • Automotive: 72,927 companies, 983 rated PURSUE. Garage roll-ups, MOT annuities, parts distribution.
  • Logistics & Fleet Services: 84,082 companies, 892 rated PURSUE. Road freight, warehousing, courier, fleet hire.
  • Wholesale & Distribution: 76,281 companies, 1,212 rated PURSUE. B2B trade supply, territorial roll-ups, sticky accounts.
  • Financial Services: 135,165 companies, 315 rated PURSUE. Regulated, sticky clients, recurring fees.
  • Education & Training: 86,619 companies, 508 rated PURSUE. Fragmented, recession-resilient, recurring.
  • Hospitality & Leisure: 407,155 companies, 2,267 rated PURSUE. Restaurants, hotels, leisure, personal services.
  • Retail: 223,591 companies, 1,457 rated PURSUE. Physical retail with proven models and loyal customers.
Per company

What every intelligence brief includes

Analyst-grade acquisition intelligence on a single target: investment thesis, financial benchmarking, approach strategy and tailored diligence questions.

Signals: Exit window detection

We identify when a business is approaching a natural exit window from director age and retirement proximity, succession gaps, capital investment decline, filing disengagement, dividend cessation and board changes, then score how narrow that window is.

Financials: Revenue, EBITDA, and margin analysis

Most private companies don’t report revenue. We estimate revenue from ten independent balance sheet signals, including multi-year growth trajectories, cross-checked by a statistical model trained on 158,000 company-years. Validated against 3,668 companies in the search fund target range: median estimate within 23% of actual revenue.

Valuation: Screening-level valuation range

Enterprise value range built from sector multiples applied to normalised EBITDA, adjusted for business quality and earnings volatility. It is not a formal valuation, but a calibrated starting point.

Quality: Benchmarked against every sector peer

Revenue per employee, EBITDA margin, and profit per employee measured against the full sector peer set, with visual benchmarks showing exactly where the target sits.

Approach: Pre-approach strategy and draft letter

Analyst note with an investment thesis. Recommended channel, timing, opening narrative, and deal structure signal. A draft approach letter tailored to the owner profile.

Risks: Risk flags and diligence priorities

Operational, financial, and data-confidence risks identified and explained. Each flag comes with the specific numbers that triggered it.

Structure: Directors, network, and group structure

Full director profiles with age, tenure, and every other active appointment mapped. Network risk and governance bandwidth assessed.

Comparables: Sector context that frames every number

A comparable companies table ranking the target against sector peers on overall score, estimated revenue, margin, headcount, and director age.

These are healthy businesses, and they vanish because no one made the introduction.

Unlock Intelligence Briefs

Try free, buy a project pack, or run a campaign on a monthly plan. New companies scored weekly as filings update.

One month of searching costs £15,000+. One broken deal costs £20,000–£30,000 in wasted diligence. From £4.97 per report on the Searcher Plan.

  • Free trial: three reports, no card required.
  • Starter Pack: £299 (£14.95 per report). 20 reports for project-based work.
  • Searcher Plan: £149/month (£4.97 per report). 30 reports a month, built for sustained campaigns.
  • Buy Box Licence: from £399/year. Every Pursue company in your buy box, named, built for buy-and-build platforms and vertical brokers.

See a full sample report. It is free, with no sign-up required. See pricing

From the research desk

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The market exists. Will you find it?

Nearly a million UK companies have directors approaching retirement. Most buyers will never see them.

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