Martin Godfrey Legido, Managing Director“Our mission is really to help SME businessmen understand the possibilities, understand the techniques and work through with them to finish the deals,” says Martin Godfrey Legido, Managing Director.
While large companies typically have access to experienced advisers, Acquisition Assist brings the same expertise to the SME market. Its team includes professionals with backgrounds at PwC, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley, giving smaller buyers access to experience that is often lacking in the market.
That mission spans three groups. The firm supports larger businesses with turnover of around three to 10 million pounds, smaller SMEs with turnover of around 500,000 to one million pursuing bolt-on acquisitions and skilled individuals, such as engineers, lawyers or accountants, buying their first company. Each client is assigned a senior analyst who remains involved throughout the journey.
The process starts with finding suitable businesses through brokers, accountants, lawyers and off-market outreach. Acquisition Assist values targets using EBITDA, discounted cash flow and enterprise value, then structures an offer for the client to approve. It also supports further acquisition tranches when a buyer is building through multiple deals.
Financial analysis is only part of the assessment. Senior analysts examine profitability, assets, unusual creditor or debtor balances, company history, sector conditions and future prospects. The firm combines its own investigation and research with direct seller conversations, frequently supporting the buyer during the first call to understand what sits behind the accounts.
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Our mission is really to help SME businessmen understand the possibilities, understand the techniques and work through with them to finish the deals.
In one recent case, a £5 million-turnover business showed £1.8 million in personal creditors involving directors, prompting deeper questions that the financial statements alone could not answer.
Acquisition Assist is equally direct about misinformation, including claims that retiring owners are desperate to sell cheaply or that businesses can routinely be acquired for a nominal sum. There are also misleading advisers who oversimplify the process for inexperienced buyers, reinforcing Acquisition Assist’s educational and ethical role in the SME market.
Persistence and Relationships
A recent acquisition shows how that approach works. An experienced engineer spent nine months with Acquisition Assist before buying a profitable engineering business with about £4 million in turnover and roughly £600,000 in annual EBIT. The £1.8 million purchase included about £800,000 financed from business assets and another £800,000 through deferred consideration over three years.
For Acquisition Assist, the result strengthens a central belief. Persistence is one of the most important factors in completing an acquisition, often outweighing available capital or technical knowledge. Buyers also need interpersonal skills because SME owners may have spent decades building a company and want confidence that a purchaser will protect employees, respect what has been built and help the business prosper.
That personal element can outlast the transaction itself. The team approaches the serious work of acquisitions with a sense of humour, and some clients remain in contact and even become friends after an acquisition. The relationship is not secondary to analysis but part of how trust is built with buyers and sellers.
Technology With Human Judgment
Acquisition Assist uses AI for valuation work, basic analysis and outreach, allowing senior advisers to concentrate on negotiation, judgment and seller relationships.
Its chartered-accountant background is also a direct trust signal for clients. If the team identifies an issue where its commercial interest may differ from the seller’s, it may still bring the matter to attention. That approach embodies the ethical legacy Martin wants the firm to leave.
With demand for its services growing, Acquisition Assist is expanding its team carefully. Its ambition is to leave an effective and ethical mark on SME acquisitions by providing buyers with sound analysis, realistic expectations, experienced support and relationships that remain constructive beyond the deal itself.
