We read the public announcements behind 57 completed UK search fund and acquisition holding company deals for the advisers they name, and Companies House for the lender. Two firms, Gerald Edelman and Buzzacott, advised the buyer on 20 of the 27 deals that name a buyer’s adviser.
Ask a UK searcher for a search fund specialist, whether for due diligence, the legal work, corporate finance or the debt, and the answer is usually a name or two from whoever closed last. There is a better source on the public record. Advisers announce the deals they work on, buyers thank the firms that helped them, and every lender's security is filed at Companies House.
We read all of it for the 57 completed UK acquisitions in our record of search fund deals: 34 by search funds and 23 by acquisition holding companies, from 2021 to 2026. For every deal we looked for each firm a public source names as advising on it, which side it acted for, and the lender holding the charge at completion.
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Start free trialA firm counts on a deal when a public page names it advising on that deal: its own announcement, the buyer's, the lender's case study or trade press. We record the side the page states and nothing more. Where a page lists a firm without saying who it acted for, the firm appears with its side not stated.
| Firm | Deals | For the buyer | For the sellers | For the lender or side not stated | Work named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gerald Edelman | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | financial due diligence, corporate finance |
| Buzzacott | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | financial due diligence |
| Marriott Harrison | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | law |
| Ashtons Legal | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | law |
| Fox Williams | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | law |
| Larking Gowen | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | financial due diligence, corporate finance |
| HMT | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | financial due diligence, corporate finance |
| Knights | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | law |
| Benchmark International | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | corporate finance |
| Entrepreneurs Hub | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | corporate finance |
| Pinsent Masons | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | law |
The pattern on the buyer's side is concentration. A searcher buying a business needs three things done for them: financial and tax due diligence, the legal work on the purchase and the debt, and often help raising the debt itself. On these deals the first of those went to Gerald Edelman or Buzzacott far more often than to anyone else.
The sellers' side looks nothing like that. 27 firms are named advising the sellers, and 26 of them appear on only one deal in the record.
Nobody certifies a search fund specialist, so we count. The firms named advising the buyer on at least 3 of the 57 deals are Gerald Edelman (11 deals), Buzzacott (9 deals), Ashtons Legal (3 deals), Fox Williams (3 deals) and Marriott Harrison (3 deals). This is a record of who worked on these deals, not a recommendation.
In London, those listing an office are Gerald Edelman (11 deals), Buzzacott (9 deals), Fox Williams (3 deals) and Marriott Harrison (3 deals). Also listing a London office, and named on two or more deals: HMT (2 deals), Entrepreneurs Hub (2 deals) and Pinsent Masons (2 deals). Firms named on two or more deals show their offices on their cards below.
Public sources name 17 firms for corporate finance work on these deals, 13 of them for the sellers. On the buyer's side they name Gerald Edelman (2 deals) and Bamburgh Capital (1 deal).
Each firm, with every deal it is named on and the page that names it:
Financial due diligence on 9 deals and corporate finance on 2 deals, 2021 to 2025. Offices: London.
Financial due diligence on 8 deals and 2 deals with the work not stated, 2023 to 2026. Offices: London.
Law on 3 deals and 1 deal with the work not stated, 2023 to 2025. Offices: London.
Law on 3 deals, 2022 to 2024. Offices: Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Ipswich, Leeds and Norwich.
Law on 3 deals, 2024 to 2025. Offices: London.
Financial due diligence on 1 deal and corporate finance on 2 deals, 2022 to 2026. Offices: Colchester, Diss, Fakenham, Ipswich and Norwich.
Financial due diligence on 1 deal and corporate finance on 1 deal, 2021 to 2024. Offices: Henley-on-Thames and London.
Law on 2 deals, 2021 to 2025. Offices: 29 UK locations.
Corporate finance on 2 deals, 2023 to 2026. Offices: Manchester and Oxford.
Corporate finance on 1 deal and 1 deal with the work not stated, 2024 to 2025. Offices: Basingstoke, Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Law on 2 deals, 2023 to 2024. Offices: London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and other UK cities.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2024.
Financial due diligence on 1 deal, 2023.
Financial due diligence on 1 deal, 2023.
Financial due diligence on 1 deal, 2024.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2025.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2025.
1 deal with the work not stated, 2025.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2021.
1 deal with the work not stated, 2025.
1 deal with the work not stated, 2025.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2023.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2025.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2025.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2023.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2024.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2025.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2025.
Financial due diligence on 1 deal, 2025.
Corporate finance on 1 deal, 2021.
Each deal link is the page that names the firm on that deal; the office link is the firm’s own page. Advise on a deal listed here and not named? Write to [email protected] with the public source and we will add it.
The lender comes from the register, not from announcements. When a deal is financed, the lender registers a charge over the business at Companies House, so we take the institution holding the charge registered from three months before to six months after completion: one lender per deal. A loan from the sellers counts as no lender.
| Lender | Deals | Different buyers | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shawbrook | 12 | 6 | 2021 to 2024 |
| HSBC UK Bank | 6 | 6 | 2021 to 2026 |
| Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending | 4 | 4 | 2024 to 2026 |
| Close Brothers | 4 | 3 | 2024 to 2025 |
| Triple Point | 3 | 3 | 2024 to 2025 |
| Metro Bank | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Lloyds | 1 | 1 | 2026 |
| BPC UK Lending | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Barclays | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| DunPort Capital Management | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| ThinCats | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Apex Group, as security agent | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bain Capital Credit, as security agent | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Archover | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Growth Lending | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
Who lends has changed. The lenders on a deal from 2025 to 2026 are HSBC UK Bank, Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending, Close Brothers, Triple Point, Metro Bank, Lloyds and BPC UK Lending. The year-by-year split by kind of lender is Exhibit 3 of the deals record.
Every deal in the record, with the lender and every adviser a public source names: deals with advisers named first, newest first within each. A deal with no adviser listed is one no public source we found names an adviser for, not one that had none.
For the buyer: Larking Gowen (financial due diligence).
For the buyer: Buzzacott (financial due diligence). Side not stated: Benchmark International (corporate finance).
For the sellers: Sedulo (corporate finance). Side not stated: CG Professionals (role not stated), Herrington Carmichael (role not stated), Buzzacott (role not stated).
For the buyer: Buzzacott (role not stated), Marriott Harrison (law). For the sellers: PKF Smith Cooper (corporate finance), Flint Bishop (law). For the lender: Browne Jacobson (law).
For the buyer: Birketts (law), Buzzacott (financial due diligence). For the sellers: Knights (law).
For the buyer: Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence), IMAP (debt advice), Fox Williams (law). For the sellers: PEM (corporate finance), Buckles (law).
For the buyer: Marriott Harrison (law), Buzzacott (financial due diligence). For the sellers: Castle Square (corporate finance), Squires (law).
For the buyer: Hood Corporate (law). Side not stated: Quest Corporate (corporate finance), Shaw Gibbs (financial due diligence).
For the sellers: Barnes Roffe (corporate finance), RWK Goodman (law).
For the buyer: Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence). Side not stated: Marriott Harrison (role not stated), IBB (role not stated), Entrepreneurs Hub (role not stated).
For the buyer: Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence).
For the buyer: Bamburgh Capital (corporate finance), Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence). For the sellers: Price Bailey (corporate finance), Leathes Prior (law).
For the buyer: Buzzacott (financial due diligence).
For the buyer: Fox Williams (law), Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence).
For the buyer: Fox Williams (law), Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence).
For the buyer: Ashtons Legal (law), Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence). For the sellers: Entrepreneurs Hub (corporate finance), IBB Law (law). For the lender: Pinsent Masons (law).
For the buyer: Saffery (financial due diligence), Shoosmiths (law).
For the buyer: Buzzacott (financial due diligence). For the sellers: HMT (corporate finance).
For the sellers: Larking Gowen (corporate finance), Spire Solicitors (law). Side not stated: Fosters (law).
For the buyer: Buzzacott (financial due diligence).
For the buyer: Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence). Side not stated: Pinsent Masons (law), Benchmark International (corporate finance).
For the buyer: Buzzacott (financial due diligence). Side not stated: Cavendish (debt advice).
For the buyer: BDO (financial due diligence), Bird & Bird (law).
For the buyer: Ensors (financial due diligence), Ashtons Legal (law). For the sellers: PM+M (corporate finance), Forbes (law).
For the buyer: Marriott Harrison (law), Buzzacott (financial due diligence). For the sellers: Mazars (corporate finance), Cripps (law), PDT Solicitors (law).
For the buyer: Gerald Edelman (corporate finance).
For the sellers: Larking Gowen (corporate finance).
For the buyer: Gerald Edelman (financial due diligence), Ashtons Legal (law). For the sellers: Azets (role not stated), HCR (role not stated). For the lender: Squire Patton Boggs (law).
For the buyer: Gerald Edelman (corporate finance).
For the buyer: K&L Gates (law), HMT (financial due diligence). For the sellers: Smith & Williamson (corporate finance), Clarke Willmott (law).
For the buyer: Knights (law). For the sellers: Fx Dynamics (corporate finance).
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
No adviser named in any public source we found.
Deals with advisers named first, newest first within each. The lender is the institution holding the charge registered at completion, as filed at Companies House.
The 57 deals are the record behind our UK search fund deals article: completed UK acquisitions by search funds and acquisition holding companies, each confirmed by a public source and by the change of owner filed at Companies House. For each one we read the source already on file and searched for the deal's other announcements: adviser deal notes, the buyer's and the lender's news pages, and trade press. We kept a firm only when a page names both the firm and the business bought, and read each page itself rather than a summary of it. Two of those pages have since gone offline; their links point to the archived copies we read.
Three limits matter when reading the counts. They are a floor: an adviser appears only if someone published the deal, and many deals are never announced. Firms that announce every deal they work on appear more often than firms that announce none, so a high count shows activity on the public record, not market share. And the side is only what a source says; we do not assume a firm acted for the buyer because it usually does.
Offices come from each firm's own website, read on 30 October 2026, for the firms named on two or more deals.
For the wider picture of who backs, lends to and advises UK searchers, see our map of the UK search fund ecosystem; for the investors on these deals' Companies House filings, see who backs UK search funds.
Nobody certifies a search fund specialist, so we count: the firms public sources name advising the buyer on at least 3 of 57 completed UK deals are Gerald Edelman (11 deals), Buzzacott (9 deals), Ashtons Legal (3 deals), Fox Williams (3 deals) and Marriott Harrison (3 deals). That is a record of who worked on these deals, not a recommendation.
Of those firms, the ones listing a London office are Gerald Edelman (11 deals), Buzzacott (9 deals), Fox Williams (3 deals) and Marriott Harrison (3 deals). Also listing a London office, and named on two or more deals: HMT (2 deals), Entrepreneurs Hub (2 deals) and Pinsent Masons (2 deals).
Public sources name 17 firms for corporate finance work on these deals, 13 of them for the sellers. On the buyer’s side they name Gerald Edelman (2 deals) and Bamburgh Capital (1 deal). The firms named on more than one deal for this work are Benchmark International (2 deals), Gerald Edelman (2 deals) and Larking Gowen (2 deals).
Across 57 completed UK deals by search funds and acquisition holding companies, public sources name 53 firms as advisers on 31 of them. On the buyer’s side, Gerald Edelman (11 deals) and Buzzacott (9 deals) are named far more often than anyone else: one of the two advised the buyer on 20 of the 27 deals that name a buyer’s adviser. Firms named on more than one deal: Gerald Edelman, Buzzacott, Marriott Harrison, Ashtons Legal, Fox Williams, Larking Gowen, HMT, Knights, Benchmark International, Entrepreneurs Hub and Pinsent Masons.
Where a source names who did the buyer’s financial due diligence, it was Gerald Edelman or Buzzacott on 17 of 22 deals.
From the charge registered at completion, as filed at Companies House: Shawbrook (12 deals), HSBC UK Bank (6 deals), Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending (4 deals), Close Brothers (4 deals) and Triple Point (3 deals) lent on the most of these deals. Lenders on a deal from 2025 to 2026: HSBC UK Bank, Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending, Close Brothers, Triple Point, Metro Bank, Lloyds and BPC UK Lending.
We took the 57 deals in our record of completed UK acquisitions by search funds and acquisition holding companies and read every public announcement we could find for each one: the advisers’ own deal notes, the buyers’, the lenders’ and trade press. A firm is listed on a deal only when a source names it on that deal, and its side is only what the source says. Companies House records charges, so the lender comes from there; it does not record advisers.
ExitRadar analyses public UK company data to identify businesses showing succession and exit signals. Advise on one of these deals and not listed, or listed wrongly? Write to [email protected] with the public source.