M&A Advisory Backed by Billion Dollar Experience

Preparing a business for sale means ensuring the business is financially transparent, operationally documented, and positioned to answer buyer questions confidently. This typically involves reviewing financial records, normalising earnings (EBITDA adjustments), addressing any gaps in governance or customer concentration, and developing an Information Memorandum that highlights the business's key strengths. Conquest Capital guides owners through each of these steps before any buyer is approached.

No. Price is one factor, but not the only one. Some owners prioritise deal certainty, legacy preservation, staff protection, or post-sale transition arrangements over headline value.

To bring rigour to this decision, Conquest Capital applies its Multi-Criteria Assessment Analysis framework, a structured approach developed to compare offers across multiple dimensions simultaneously. Each offer is evaluated not just on dollar value, but on structure, certainty, terms, and strategic fit, all measured against the owner's objectives that we establish before the process begins. This ensures every offer is assessed on what actually matters to you, not just the headline number.

Conquest Capital presents this analysis clearly, so the owner can make a fully informed decision that reflects both financial and personal priorities.

Deal failures do occur in M&A, most commonly due to due diligence findings, financing issues on the buyer's side, or misalignment on final terms, particularly value. Conquest Capital manages this risk by running a competitive process with multiple qualified parties wherever possible, so no single buyer holds all the leverage.

If a deal does not proceed, the process is reviewed, and the positioning is refined. In some cases, the mandate pauses, particularly where the business would benefit from operational improvements, stronger profitability, or establishing a succession plan before re-entering the market. Any pause is treated as preparation, with lessons applied so the business is in a stronger position when the process resumes.

This depends entirely on what the owner wants and what the buyer requires and it is something Conquest Capital works to understand before the process begins. By establishing the owner's personal objectives early, we are able to target the right buyers from the outset and set clear expectations around post-sale involvement from the start.

Some transactions include an earn-out or transition period of six to twenty-four months, where the owner remains involved to support handover. Others achieve a clean break. Conquest Capital negotiates these terms to align with the owner's goals, whether that means staying on briefly, stepping into a board seat, or walking away entirely.

We primarily advise privately owned Australian businesses valued between $10 million and $100 million. As a mergers and acquisitions firm, we work across Consumer, Health, Industrials, Professional Services, Real Estate, and B2B Technology.