An acquisition brief everyone can use
Record the buyer’s objective, the current stage, the people involved and the known timetable. Separate established information from assumptions and questions that still need professional review.
Give the acquisition a working structure
Business acquisition coordination
Buying a business can create several conversations at once: with the seller, management, lawyers, accountants and finance professionals. I help the buyer keep the agreed information, actions and decision points organised around the specialists responsible for the transaction.
Work directly with Jack. Scope, responsibilities and fees agreed before work begins.
Who this is for
For an individual buyer, an owner-led business considering an acquisition, or a principal whose advisers need a central coordination contact. The brief might involve an owner-managed service business, a trading company or a business with commercial premises. Especially useful when the buyer still has a business or other commitments to manage.
Practical work. Visible outputs.
Know what you are asking me to deliver.
Agree the immediate priorities, the people involved and the output you need to make your next decision.
A clear responsibility map
Show who owns legal, accounting, commercial and funding questions, who provides information and who makes the final decisions. Gaps in the team become visible early.
One reliable progress record
Keep information requests, responses and agreed actions together. The buyer receives a concise update on open issues and dependencies without having to reconstruct the project from separate inboxes.
Connect the moving parts
The work behind the next step.
My role is to organise the agreed work and keep questions moving. Your appointed professionals remain responsible for their specialist advice.
Buyer and adviser briefing
Prepare an agreed overview and information-sharing process. Distinguish the legal team’s transaction questions, the accountant’s financial review, management’s commercial assessment and the finance professional’s funding requirements. Each has a separate responsibility.
Information coordination
Maintain the request list, ask the relevant person for missing material and distinguish documents received from issues reviewed. Receipt of a file does not mean its contents are approved.
Funding dependencies
Track information requested by the appointed finance professional, expected decision points and matters affecting timing. Any finance advice or arrangement requires its own appropriate engagement.
Decision preparation
Bring open questions and the specialists’ responses into a usable meeting agenda. Record the buyer’s decision and resulting actions without substituting my own investment recommendation.
From first conversation to next decision
A clear route through the work.
Explore the stages we can agree together. The sequence follows the project; it is not a promised completion timetable.
Open any stage to see what it involves. You stay in control of the decisions.
Understand the opportunity
Start with the proposed business, your objective, current discussions and any time pressure. Confidential details can follow through an agreed channel.
Set scope and authority
Confirm the coordination brief, appointed advisers and who may instruct me. Agree information-sharing permissions, deliverables, fees and escalation arrangements.
Map the work
Build a request list and project timetable around the professionals’ requirements. Flag missing responsibilities and assumptions that need checking.
Coordinate the review
Follow up agreed actions and organise review meetings. Keep unresolved questions visible, including those that may affect whether you proceed.
Prepare the next handover
Produce a current summary for the next decision or completion stage. If the transaction stops, record remaining obligations for the relevant advisers to address.
Illustrative brief · not a client case study
Connecting separate acquisition workstreams
The situation
Illustrative potential engagement: a buyer has appointed a solicitor and accountant, but their information requests overlap and management is unsure who needs which documents.
The work to agree
The coordination brief could establish a combined request register, agreed document owners and a weekly review of outstanding dependencies.
A useful output
The intended output is a clearer evidence trail for the professionals and a current decision list for the buyer. It does not establish that the business is suitable to acquire.
Make the first conversation useful
Your starting brief.
You do not need every answer before getting in touch. Tick the points you can already outline and use the rest as prompts for our conversation.
0 of 6 items prepared
Start with what you know. An incomplete brief is welcome.
These ticks stay on this page, are not saved or sent to Jack, and clear when you reload. They are preparation prompts, not a readiness assessment.
Discuss this briefThe enquiry opens with this service selected. Add a short outline in your own words; share confidential papers only through an agreed secure route.
Before we begin
Questions worth asking.
Start with the objective and your current stage. We can work out the practical scope together.
Will you find a business for me to buy?
This page describes coordination around a buyer’s identified project. Business sourcing, recommending an investment or arranging a share transaction should not be assumed to be included in the consultancy brief.
Link to this answerDo you carry out the due diligence?
I can organise requests and follow-up around due diligence. The appointed legal, financial and other specialists perform their respective reviews and remain responsible for their findings and advice.
Link to this answerCan you negotiate the deal or sign for me?
The buyer and their appointed advisers retain transaction decisions and negotiation responsibilities. Ordinary coordination terms do not authorise me to bind you, sign transaction documents or commit your funds.
Link to this answerCan you help when the acquisition stalls?
We can discuss a focused review of outstanding actions, missing information and decision ownership. That may clarify what needs to happen next, but cannot guarantee agreement between the parties or a completed purchase.
Link to this answerA useful first conversation
What needs to move forward?
A short outline is enough: the objective, the current position and the date you are working towards.
A clearly agreed role. You retain commercial and investment decisions. Consultancy does not include legal, tax or regulated investment advice, a funding guarantee, or handling client money. Where a transaction needs regulated corporate finance, investment or other specialist advice, the appropriate professional must be appointed separately. Mortgage and protection advice is a separate engagement through Mortgage Force (UK) Ltd.
Consultancy content updated 17 October 2026. Illustrations depict the service, not an actual client transaction.